A novel approach to fuel biomass sampling for 3D fuel characterization

Hawley, Christie; Loudermilk, E. Louise; Rowell, Eric; Pokswinski, Scott

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2018.11.006

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(22 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This process was difficult in environments with fine scale vegetation (less than 0.01 m) which were susceptible to wind and also minor disturbances from the measurement rods. An alternative sampling approach using a vertically sliding frame and data collection to record presence and absence of vegetation within 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm voxels with biomass harvesting could be utilised to allow for some movement of vegetation through wind at the trade-off of precision [58]. Additionally, the time taken to complete a full assessment of the frame area including the harvesting and subsequent drying of biomass is expected to be more time consuming than the approach outlined in this research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Method for Validating the Structural Completeness of Understory Vegetation Models Captured with 3D Remote Sensing

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Characteristics describing below canopy vegetation are important for a range of forest ecosystem applications including wildlife habitat, fuel hazard and fire behaviour modelling, understanding forest recovery after disturbance and competition dynamics. Such applications all rely on accurate measures of vegetation structure. Inherent in this is the assumption or ability to demonstrate measurement accuracy. 3D point clouds are being increasingly used to describe vegetated environments, however limited research has been conducted to validate the information content of terrestrial point clouds of understory vegetation. This paper describes the design and use of a field frame to co-register point intercept measurements with point cloud data to act as a validation source. Validation results show high correlation of point matching in forests with understory vegetation elements with large mass and/or surface area, typically consisting of broad leaves, twigs and bark 0.02 m diameter or greater in size (SfM, MCC 0.51–0.66; TLS, MCC 0.37–0.47). In contrast, complex environments with understory vegetation elements with low mass and low surface area showed lower correlations between validation measurements and point clouds (SfM, MCC 0.40 and 0.42; TLS, MCC 0.25 and 0.16). The results of this study demonstrate that the validation frame provides a suitable method for comparing the relative performance of different point cloud generation processes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Method for Validating the Structural Completeness of Understory Vegetation Models Captured with 3D Remote Sensing

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To this end, laser altimetry (e.g., LiDAR) continues to expand the ability to estimate physical fuel properties at higher spatial resolutions and in three dimensions with greater precision than direct field sampling techniques Skowronski et al 2011;Rowell et al 2016). Yet, how these tools are used to provide input parameters to fire behavior models, such as surface area-to-volume ratios, packing ratios, bulk density, and their spatial heterogeneity must be standardized into sampling and analytical techniques (Hawley et al 2018).…”

Section: Fuels: Toward 3-and 4-dimensional Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed fire science: the case for a refined research agenda

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The realm of wildland fire science encompasses both wild and prescribed fires. Most of the research in the broader field has focused on wildfires, however, despite the prevalence of prescribed fires and demonstrated need for science to guide its application. We argue that prescribed fire science requires a fundamentally different approach to connecting related disciplines of physical, natural, and social sciences. We also posit that research aimed at questions relevant to prescribed fire will improve overall wildland fire science and stimulate the development of useful knowledge about managed wildfires. Because prescribed fires are increasingly promoted and applied for wildfire management and are intentionally ignited to meet policy and land manager objectives, a broader research agenda incorporating the unique features of prescribed fire is needed. We highlight the primary differences between prescribed fire science and wildfire science in the study of fuels, fire behavior, fire weather, fire effects, and fire social science. Wildfires managed for resource benefits ("managed wildfires") offer a bridge for linking these science frameworks. A recognition of the unique science needs related to prescribed fire will be key to addressing the global challenge of managing wildland fire for long-term sustainability of natural resources.Keywords: fire behavior, fire effects, fire weather, fireline interactions, fuels characterization, post-fire tree mortality, prescribed burning, wildland fire research Resumen El ámbito de la ciencia del fuego comprende tanto a los incendios de vegetación no controlados como a las quemas prescriptas. La mayoría de las investigaciones en este amplio campo se han enfocado en los incendios de vegetación, a pesar de la prevalencia de las quemas prescriptas y la probada necesidad de que la ciencia guíe su aplicación. Argüimos que la ciencia de las quemas prescriptas requiere de un enfoque fundamentalmente diferente para conectarse con las disciplinas relacionadas de la ciencias físicas, sociales y naturales. También postulamos que la investigación enfocada a preguntas relevantes para las quemas prescriptas va a mejorar la ciencia de fuegos de vegetación en general y estimular el desarrollo del conocimiento útil sobre el manejo de fuegos de vegetación. Dado que las quemas prescriptas son propuestas y aplicadas de manera incremental para para el manejo de fuegos (Continued on next page) de vegetación, y que son intencionalmente iniciadas para lograr metas y objetivos de manejo de tierras, una agenda más amplia de investigación, incorporando aspectos únicos de las quemas prescriptas, se hace necesaria. Ilustramos las diferencias primarias entre la ciencia de las quemas prescriptas y la de la ciencia de fuegos naturales de vegetación en lo que hace al estudio de los combustibles, el comportamiento del fuego, la meteorología, los efectos del fuego, y las ciencias sociales relacionadas con el fuego. Los incendios manejados para beneficio de los recursos ("fuegos manejados") ofrecen un puente para li...

show abstract

“…The northwest corner of each plot was monumented with a 1.5 m tall metal pole wrapped with highly reflective Fine-Scale 3D Fuels Characterization 8 retro-tape. After TLS was conducted and before prescribed burning, the plots were sampled and harvested for 3D biomass measurements using the most recent 3D fuels sampling protocol (Hawley et al 2018). This approach uses a voxel sampling framework, which employs an adjustable 3D rectangular sampling frame that allows fuels data to be collected in the field at three different scales-entire plot (0.25 m3), stratum (0.025 m3), down to individual voxels (0.001 m3).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within each plot, starting at the highest stratum that contained vegetation, each voxel was sampled for presence/absence of fuel type. Specific to a longleaf pine woodland, the fuel types included 1-10 hour fuels, 100-1000 hour fuels, general pine litter (e. g. shortleaf and/or loblolly pine), wiregrass/bunchgrass, other graminoids, shrubs, volatile shrubs, forbs, pine cones, deciduous oak litter, evergreen oak litter, and longleaf pine litter (see Hawley et al 2018). Each voxel had the potential to encompass multiple fuel types.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The segmentation of the plots into 10-cm strata served as an optimal approach to assess within plot variability, particularly when the TLS was used to describe porosity in the lower litter layers. Using the 3D field sampling protocol (Hawley et al 2018), all plots exhibited 100% occupancy for all the 0-10 cm strata and voxels therein. The porosity metric was therefore developed to characterize variation in this compact stratum.…”

Section: Estimates Of Fuel Mass By Stratamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Coupling Terrestrial Laser Scanning with 3D Fuel Biomass Sampling for Advancing Wildland Fuels Characterization

Rowell

Loudermilk

Hawley

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The spatial pattern of surface fuelbeds in fire-dependent ecosystems are rarely captured using long-standing fuel sampling methods. New techniques, both field sampling and remote sensing, that capture vegetation fuel type, biomass, and volume at super fine-scales (cm to dm) in three-dimensions (3D) are critical to advancing forest fuel and wildland fire science. This is particularly true for computational fluid dynamics fire behavior models that operate in 3D and have implications for wildland fire operations and fire effects research. This study describes the coupling of new 3D field sampling data with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data to infer finescale fuel mass in 3D. We found that there are strong relationships between fine-scale mass and TLS occupied volume, porosity, and surface area, which were used to develop fine-scale prediction equations using TLS across vegetative fuel types, namely grasses and shrubs. The application of this novel 3D sampling technique to high resolution TLS data in this study represents a major advancement in understanding fire-vegetation feedbacks in highly managed fire-dependent ecosystems.

show abstract

A novel approach to fuel biomass sampling for 3D fuel characterization

Abstract: Graphical abstract

Cited by 18 publications

References 15 publications

A Method for Validating the Structural Completeness of Understory Vegetation Models Captured with 3D Remote Sensing

A Method for Validating the Structural Completeness of Understory Vegetation Models Captured with 3D Remote Sensing

Prescribed fire science: the case for a refined research agenda

Coupling Terrestrial Laser Scanning with 3D Fuel Biomass Sampling for Advancing Wildland Fuels Characterization

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About