BrasilFire 1999
Proposal and Work Plan
August 15, 1999
Introduction
BrasilFire is a collaborative research program started in 1993 as part of the Fire and
Environmental Change Implementing Arrangement and the Forest Service Global
Change Research Program. BrasilFire is a totally integrated part of the PNW research
program, providing a globally-consistent decision support system for fire management,
ecosystem restoration, and global change response. Products include:
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Photo Series (cerrado) a simple assessment of biomass loading and flammability
CONSUME (tropical) predicting biomass consumption in tropical ecosystems
Combustion (smolder) thermodynamic model of smoldering consumption
Air Quality (Amazonia) smoke management and health assessment tools
Biomass Emissions assessing greenhouse gas emissions from wildland fire
Transect of the Americas
A line drawn from the tundra of Alaska to the Atlantic forest of
Brazil transects virtually all of the Earth's biomes. This
"Transect of the Americas" provides a compact global
ecological laboratory for comparative ecosystem studies; and
for testing the rigor of theories across boreal, temperate, and
tropical ecosystems.
FERA provides replicated research results that underlay
decision support systems for fire management, air quality
management, and global change response. Our clients include
those management and scientific communities in the United
States and elsewhere. One-tenth of our research takes place
in tropical ecosystems, primarily in Brazil but also in Florida and Hawaii. Twenty percent
of our research takes place in the boreal systems of Alaska. One-third takes place in the
moist temperate systems of the Northwest, Southeast, and Northeast United States.
One-third addresses the Dry Temperate ecosystems of the Western United States.
Occasionally, we augment our research with field experiments in Mexico.
Benefits to Forest Service Research Clients in the United States
Brazil offers an efficient laboratory for Forest Service Research. Theories of
combustion, air pollution, health effects, ecological response, and fire risk developed for
use in the United States can be independently tested here. Brazilian ecosystems extend
the range of physical, biological, and meteorological conditions found in North America,
providing for more robust scientific results. The science infrastructure in Brazil is world
class, offering scientific talent that is unavailable in the United States. Together with
FERA scientists, Brazilian scientists are at work on scientific and management issues
common to both countries.
Combustion and Carbon
Emission from Tropical
Biomass
Development of combustion
algorithms of tropical biomass in
cooperation with the Combustion
and Propulsion Laboratory of
Brazil’s Space Agency (INPE)
has become the centerpiece of
BrasilFire research. Replicated field experiments in 1997 through 2000 are investigating
flaming and smoldering combustion at an INPE experimental farm outside of Alta
Floresta, Mato Grosso. Basic investigation of the smoldering combustion process is
being done controlled conditions at the INPE combustion laboratory in Cachoeira
Paulista. A Brazilian doctoral student’s dissertation research at the University of
Washington continues, focusing on the development of a fire risk model for Amazon
forest landscapes considering forest physiology, fire meteorology, land use, and climate
change.
We (Sam Sandberg and Ernesto Alvarado) began a research partnership with the
Brazilian scientific team lead by Dr. Joao Andrade de Carvalho. This partnership with
Dr. Carvalho allowed us to initiate studies on combustion efficiency and fire physics of
biomass originated from primary forest clearing and its effects on smoke emissions. On
the same site, we continued to conduct experiments to monitor changes in flammability
condition of the disturbed primary forest adjacent to land clearings and pastures and
undisturbed primary forest. We foster further cooperation with Brazilian partners through
the research of master's and doctoral students from INPE, INPA, University of Sao
Paulo, and University of Mato Grosso, who use the plots.
Benefits to Forest Service Research Clients in the United States
Fire modeling in the United States and Canada has focused almost entirely on the
flaming fire front, neglecting the residual combustion phase that has the greatest effect
on ecosystems and the environment. Brazilian scientists from the University of Sao
Paulo, University of Brasilia, and the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE) are developing a
theoretical model of smoldering combustion that is vital to understanding the role of fire
in ecosystems in the Western and Northern United States. The quality of these scientific
talents and interest simply are not available in the United States or elsewhere in the
world.
Predicting Fire Effects in the Cerrado
Fire is the dominant ecological force shaping the diversity of
tropical savannas, just as in grasslands, shrublands, and
woodlands of the temperate zones. Predicting the frequency
and severity of fires is essential for conservation and
restoration of ecosystems; and prescribed fire is the most
powerful tool that land managers possess. We are developing a comprehensive system
of equations and methods to fuelbed characteristics, biomass consumption, air
pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions from fires in all forms of the Brazilian cerrado.
A continuing collaborative research program involves the Fire and Environmental
Applications Research Team (Roger Ottmar and Bob Vihnanek), Pacific Southwest
Research Station (Dr. Phil Riggan), University of Brasilia (Dra. Heloisa Miranda), and
others in a series of field experiments to assess the flammability of cerrado ecosystems
across a broad environmental gradient. Ground-based are combined with remote
sensing to form a complete process model of biomass combustion in the tropics.
FERA’s challenge in the United States is to raise the understanding of fire effects in the
grasslands and shrublands to the level of predictability that exists for forest fuelbeds.
The thermophysics of fire in the cerrado is identical to that of the dry temperate systems
of the United States, and the ecology is surprisingly similar. By working in Brazil, we
gain access to a vast laboratory of savannas and a substantial research infrastructure to
conduct experiments that complement what we are doing in the Southwest United
States.
The diversity of savannas and their contribution to greenhouse gas exchange with the
atmosphere are under-appreciated and poorly documented. This research will improve
our understanding of the role of rangelands in the earth system.
Fire Risk Assessment: Low Impact vs. Traditional
Harvesting
Ordinarily, undisturbed tropical rain forest is considered a
fireproof ecosystem. Severe fire can only occur during
sustained drought when it is dry enough to sustain
smoldering combustion, or when the canopy is disturbed by
logging. Fire is usually very destructive in tropical forests, so
it is important to anticipate weather and land use patterns that result in high fire danger
so that management and regulatory remedies can be applied. One promising remedy is
the application of low-impact harvesting techniques that reduce fire hazard to nearly the
level of an undisturbed forest.
In this study, fuel moisture, microclimate, regional weather, fuel loading, canopy
disturbance, and fire behavior are being monitored to identify conditions that sustain fire
spread. Our study protocols include the ignition of small plots during the dry season to
compare the flammability condition of undisturbed and disturbed forest. The study is
expected to continue through 2002. Dr. Ernesto Alvarado leads this study for the U.S.
An assessment comparing fire risk between low-impact and traditional forest harvesting
is being made in the Tapajos National Forest, in partnership with the National Research
Institute for the Amazon (INPA) and the Tropical Forest Foundation. The fire risk
assessment will complement the ecological and economical benefit analysis conducted
by the TFF and IITF on low-impact harvesting. This research is supported by USAID
and USDA Forest Service International Programs.
Benefits to Forest Service Research Clients in the United States
This study replicates tests of flammability and fire severity thresholds conducted by
FERA in the boreal and temperate forests and rangelands in the United States. Our
goal is to produce a fire hazard rating system that is equally applicable from Alaska to
Brazil. Such a system will improve the capability for fire managers to communicate
collaborate in fire emergencies such as we experienced in 1998, and add confidence to
the physical assumptions embedded in fire danger rating models. It will also improve the
performance of earth-system models by providing consistency in the assessment of the
ecological and biogeochemical role of fire around the world. Specific results from this
study will improve our ability to assess changes in flammability that result from partial
harvesting or canopy removal in hardwood forests of the United States.
Photo Series to Assess Flammability
Land managers need a relatively fast and easy procedure to characterize fuels so they
can better estimate fuel consumption, smoke emissions, fire behavior, and fire effects.
One method currently used to quantify and visually describe fuel characteristics is the
photo series approach.
The photo series contains photos of the range of aboveground biomass that occurs
within the cerrado ecosystem. Each photo is accompanied by data detailing the amount
of aboveground biomass in various categories seen in that particular photograph.
The Brazilian cerrado covers an estimated 1.8 x 10 6 km 2 of the central plateau. It
encompasses many different physiognomic forms, ranging from grasslands to closed canopy dryland forests. Fire is an integral part of these ecosystems. The ability to
estimate fuel consumption and carbon emissions from cerrado fires requires a simple
method to inventory available biomass.
The study has been accomplished By Roger Ottmar and Bob Vihnanek through
cooperation with Dr. Heloisa Miranda and the University of Brasilia. Several graduate
students from the university have been trained in the methodologies and participated in
the data collection. The photo series will be published in English and Portuguese in
2000.
This photo series contributes to the knowledge of fuels and fuel sampling techniques for
grassland, savanna and woodland ecosystems, of which several occur in the U.S. It is
an extension of the current development of photo series in natural fuels that we are
producing. Photo series have been completed for 15 fuel types across the U.S. and five
additional types will be done.
Smoke Management in the Amazon
Regulation of fires to prevent adverse health effects from
smoke exposure must be based on solid research and risk
assessment. Communities in Amazonia are regularly
exposed to levels of particulate matter and carbon monoxide
generated from agricultural burning and wildfires in the
tropical forest. These exposures exceed air quality standards in the United States.
The first phase of this research was completed in 1998 with a published exposure
assessment and recommended management strategies. Environmental agencies in
Brazil have responded by implementing several measures to limit smoke exposure, and
the data has been incorporated into initial exposure assessments for U.S. communities.
More could be done, especially to monitor the health effects of affected residents of the
rural communities and to complete the modeling of smoke production and dispersion.
Benefits to Forest Service Research Clients in the United States
FERA scientists are responsible for assessing the risk of smoke exposure to the health
of firefighters and rural communities in the United States. The assessment is difficult,
because exposure of any specific population to prolonged smoke episodes is a rare
event and difficult to isolate from other health risks. However, smoke exposure in
communities along the Amazon is predictable and repeatable. Studies of smoke
exposure in Brazil have led to better science-based environmental regulation in both
countries.
Partners in Brazil
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Dr. David V. Sandberg, Roger Ottmar, Bob Vihnanek. USDA Forest Service,
Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, Oregon
Dr. Ernesto Alvarado. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington
Seattle, Washington.
Joao Antonio Raposo Pereira. Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos
Recursos Naturais Renovaveis (IBAMA), Brasilia.
Dra. Heliosa Miranda, Saulo Marques de Andrade. Universsidade de Brasilia,
Brasilia, Brazil
Dr. João Andrade de Carvalho Jr., Dr. Fernando de Souza Costa, Dr. Carlos
Alberto Gurgel Veras, José Carlos dos Santos, Aguinaldo Martins Serra Jr.,
Elaine Reis de Carvalho, and Renata Alves. Laboratório de Combustão e
Propulsão, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais. Cachoeria Paulista-Sao
Paulo, Brasil.
Dr. Ralf gielow. Divisao de Metereologia. INPE. Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao
Paulo, Brasil
Selma Bara Melgaço. Floresta Nacional do Tapajos, IBAMA. Santarem
Dr. Niro Higuchi and Ligia Toledo. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia.
Manaus
Johan C. Zweede. Fundação Floresta Tropical. Belém, Brasil
Antonio Malheiros, Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso, Alta Floresta
Eric Stoner, U.S. Aid to International Development, Brasilia
Janice Weber, U.S. Aid to International Development, Brasilia