eISSN 1942-2466
Vol. 1, 2009
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J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., Vol. 1, Art. #11, 9 pp.

Published Online 9 Oct. '09

Coupled atmosphere-wildland fire modelling

Jean Baptiste Filippi, Frédéric Bosseur, Céline Mari, Christine Lac, Patrick Le Moigne, Bénédicte Cuenot, Denis Veynante, Daniel Cariolle, Jacques Henri Balbi

Abstract


Simulating the interaction between fire and atmosphere is critical to the estimation of the rate of spread of the fire. Wildfire’s convection (i.e., entire plume) can modify the local meteorology throughout the atmospheric boundary layer and consequently affect the fire propagation speed and behaviour. In this study, we use for the first time the Méso-NH meso-scale numerical model coupled to the point functional ForeFire simplified physical front-tracking wildfire model to investigate the differences introduced by the atmospheric feedback in propagation speed and behaviour. Both numerical models have been developed as research tools for operational models and are currently used to forecast localized extreme events. These models have been selected because they can be run coupled and support decisions in wildfire management in France and Europe. The main originalities of this combination reside in the fact that Méso-NH is run in a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) configuration and that the rate of spread model used in ForeFire provides a physical formulation to take into account the effect of wind and slope. Simulations of typical experimental configurations show that the numerical atmospheric model is able to reproduce plausible convective effects of the heat produced by the fire. Numerical results are comparable to estimated values for fire-induced winds and present behaviour similar to other existing numerical approaches.

 Article Spotlight
Figure 6. CONF3 (a) Horizontal section (x/y) at Z510m, fire line propagation after 200 seconds for the coupled (black) and noncoupled (grey) simulations. Arrows denote the wind vectors of the coupled case. Light-grey line represents the initial ignition for both cases. (b) Cross-section (x/z) of the coupled case at Y5600m, shading represents concentration of the injected passive tracer.
Cite this article in JAMES:
Filippi, J. B., F. Bosseur, C. Mari, C. Lac, P. Le Moigne, B. Cuenot, D. Veynante, D. Cariolle and J. H. Balbi, 2009: Coupled atmosphere-wildland fire modelling. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., Vol. 1, Art. #11, 9 pp., doi:10.3894/JAMES.2009.1.11
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