Authors
Brian Carroll (CIRES,NOAA/CSL), W. Alan Brewer (NOAA/CSL), Edward Strobach (CIRES,NOAA/CSL), Neil Lareau (Univ. of Nevada Reno), Steven S. Brown (NOAA/CSL,Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder), Miguel Valero (Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, San José State University, San Jose, California, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain), Adam Kochanski (Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, San José State University, San Jose, California), Craig B. Clements (Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, San José State University, San Jose, California), Ralph Kahn (NASA,LASP), Yelena L. Pichugina (CIRES), Maxwell W. Holloway (CIRES), Michael Zucker (CIRES), Kristen Zuraski (CIRES), Jeff Peischl (CIRES), Brandi McCarty (CIRES), Richard Marchbanks (CIRES)
Abstract
The social, economic, and ecological impacts of wildfires are increasing over much of the United States and globally. This creates a need to improve coupled fire-atmosphere forecast models. However, model performance is difficult to evaluate due to scarcity of observations for many key fire-atmosphere interactions, including updrafts and plume injection height, plume entrainment processes, fire intensity and rate-of-spread, and plume chemistry. Intensive observations during active wildfires are rare due to the logistical challenges and scales involved. The California Fire Dynamics Experiment (CalFiDE) was designed to address these observational needs, using Doppler lidar, high-resolution multispectral imaging, and in situ air quality instruments on a NOAA Twin Otter research aircraft, and Doppler lidars, radar, and other instrumentation on multiple ground-based mobile platforms. Five wildfires were studied across northern California and southern Oregon over 16 flight days from 28 August to 25 September 2022, including a breadth of fire stages from large blow-up days to smoldering air quality observations. Missions were designed to optimize the observation of the spatial structure and temporal evolution of each fire from early afternoon until sunset during multiple consecutive days. The coordination of the mobile platforms enabled four-dimensional sampling strategies during CalFiDE that will improve understanding of fire-atmosphere dynamics, aiding in model development and prediction capability. This poster will present the scientific objectives, platforms and instruments deployed, coordinated sampling strategies, and first results.