Interdisciplinary

Wildland fire science includes interdisciplinary components that cross-cut several focal areas. Research disciplines such as meteorology and climate can improve our understanding of the conditions that limit and promote wildland fire activity across multiple spatial and temporal scales. These disciplines are critical to improve short-term fire spread modeling as well as smoke emissions and dispersion predictions and are critical to improving the many systems used through wildland fire management. Much is still unknown about how atmospheric and topographic drivers influence short-term variations in near surface weather conditions, such as temperature, humidity and wind, and how these variations interact to promote wildland fire activity. Further, long-term variations in climate can inform ecologically-based vegetation management and community wildfire risk evaluations. Ultimately, interdisciplinary research can intersect with all other focal areas and its scientific advancement is critical to the Forest Service mission of managing landscapes for current and future generations.

Additionally, technologies such as terrestrial, airborne and spaceborne remote sensing platforms continue to offer ways to map and explore critical components of the wildland fire environment including fuels characteristics, fire activity/growth and fire effects. As such, remote sensing is a critical cross-cutting discipline that can inform and improve research activities in all other focal areas.

Further, the creation of science application and integration products is critical to transfer technology from fundamental research to operational systems that can provide access to the best available science for decision making. This includes both application development and technology transfer. This research intersects all other focal areas.