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Abstract
Modeling Past and Present Fire Behavior: Kennedy Space Center, FloridaTrack: Modeling
Author(s): Brean W. Duncan, Paul A. Schmalzer
Fire has historically been an important ecological factor maintaining southeastern vegetation. Humans have altered natural fire regimes by fragmenting fuels, introducing exotic species, and suppressing fires. Little is known about how these alterations affect spatial fire spread and its behavior through time. To quantify the difference between historic and current fire spread distributions, we used ArcInfo and the FARSITE fire spread model. We held all variables constant with exception of the fuel models representing different time periods. Fires during the early 1900s burned freely across the landscape, while current fires are much smaller, restricted by human-created barriers.
Brean W. Duncan
Dynamac Corp.
Mail Code: DYN-2
Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
USA
Phone: (321) 476-4122
Fax: (321) 852-2939
E-mail: brean.duncan-1@ksc.nasa.gov