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Application of F uel C haracteristic C lassification S ystem to Ph II EI (add-on task to Inter RPO project). F ire E missions J oint F orum Meeting Spokane, WA Day 1 – 1015a Part B Dave Randall Air Sciences Inc. Outline. What is FCCS? How does it work?
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Application of Fuel Characteristic Classification System to Ph II EI(add-on task to Inter RPO project) Fire Emissions Joint Forum Meeting Spokane, WA Day 1 – 1015a Part B Dave Randall Air Sciences Inc.
Outline • What is FCCS? • How does it work? • Review FCC-based calculation method • Compare results to Phase II data • Potential Benefits of WRAP adopting FCC-based fuel loading calculation
Application of FCCS for WRAP • FCCS = Fuel Characteristic Classification System • Assigns fuel loading to applicable events in the WRAP historic Phase II 2002 wildfire, WFU and prescribed burning activity databases • FCC fuel loading (tons) compared to Phase II fuel loading • Analysis focuses on fuel loadings rather than emissions
Phase II Emission Inventory Emissions = Acres x Fuel Loading x Emission Factor The analysis & the results of this report are quantified in “tons” & “tons/acre” of fuel loading
FCC Map & Loadings • FCC map of the West developed by USDA – Forest Service Pacific NW Research Station (PNRS) • Covers WRAP region (except AK, HI, & portions of ND & SD) • 1-km resolution grid specifying a single FCC code per grid cell • Table of fuel loadings (tons biomass/fuel layer) for each FCC code
PNRS FCC Fuel Layers • Total Trees, shrub, duff (inches) • nonwoody-live, nonwoody-dead • (1,10,100,1K, 10K, 10K+) hour-sound • (1K, 10K, 10K+) hour-rotten • 8 tons/inch/acre of duff • Sum all layers for each FCC to obtain total tons fuel loading per acre for each FCC
Rules for FCC Application to Phase II • FCC fuel loadings only replaced Phase II fuel loadings for events that obtained fuel loading from GIS overlay • Generally, these were events that had no quantifiable fuel loading indicated in the Phase II activity data.
FCC Assignment Steps • Mappable point for fire from its Lat/Lon • Fire point converted to FCC map projection coordinates • Fire point “dropped” on FCC map (ID intersecting grid cell) • ID fuel model at that point (as a coded #) • Save fuel model code to newly created FCC field in activity database • FCC fuel loading in tons/acre assigned to event
Effect of Applying FCC Fuel Loadings • Applied FCC rules to wildfire, wildland fire use & prescribed burning events in the Phase II inventory • Based on previous rules, not all events were overwritten with FCC-based values. • When FCC loadings were not applied, fuel loading did not change for that event. • Now we’ll take a look at the comparison of FCC fuel loading to previous NFDRS-based value.
FCC Affected Acres of Activity & Differences in Fuel Loading
Review Results • Most states: incr in fuel consumption • WRAP-wide 68% incr in fuel loading • Notable incr in OR & NM. • Oregon: • 92 Fire days & 385K acres were involved. • Increase in Fuel Loading from 10M tons to 27.6M tons consumed • New Mexico: • 62 Fire days & 75K acres were involved. • Increase in Fuel Loading from 0.35M tons to 2.7M tons consumed
Benefits of Applying FCC Fuel Loadings • Current Science: • PNRS’s FCCS considered more recent, up to date & specific for wildland biomass characterization. • accuracy of FCC loadings was not examined • Precision of Fuels Data: • Applying FCCS resulted in more variety of fuel models in EI. NFDRS has 1 assignment per state. Number of FCC assignments ranged up to 22. • Average of 4 assignments/state • FCC captures more diversity & spatial specifics in fuels distribution across state.
Benefits of Applying FCC Fuel Loadings (cont...) • System Compatibility: • FCC map & fuel loading table utilizes same processing methods as current WRAP system. • FCCS compatible with Phase II: • including overlay of fire event coordinates in GIS to acquire fuel loading • including calculating final emissions based on ton/acre fuel loadings • FCC map can be substituted for NFDRS map for event-level QC. • Eg. fire perimeters can be overlaid on FCC map to compute weighted fuel loading for a specific event.