HR: 1340h
AN: A53A-0911    [Abstracts]
TI: Thermodynamic Structure of a Grass Fire Plume
AU: * Clements, C B
EM: clements@met.sjsu.edu
AF: Department of Meteorology, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192, United States
AU: Zhong, S
EM: zhongs@msu.edu
AF: Michigan State University, 208 Geography Building, East Lansing, MI 48824,
AU: Heilman, W E
EM: wheilman@fs.fed.us
AF: Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 1407 S. Harrison Road, Room 220, East Lansing, MI 48823, United States
AU: Bian, X
EM: xbian@fs.fed.us
AF: Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 1407 S. Harrison Road, Room 220, East Lansing, MI 48823, United States
AB: Fine scale measurements of temperature were made within a grass fire plume during the FireFlux experiment that was conducted near Houston, Texas in 2006. Fine-wire thermocouples were mounted on a 43 m guyed tower located within the experimental fuel bed. The plume temperatures were measured at 1 Hz s as the fire front passed the tower. Maximum plume temperatures measured were approximately 290 C at a height of 10 m AGL. Entrainment of ambient air was observed to occur from both the top and underneath the plume. The entrainment near the surface was associated with the formation of a horizontal vortex that formed in response to the fire front and strong wind shear at the fire-atmosphere interface. Further results to be presented include plume heating rates calculated from data obtained from the tower and an infrared thermal imaging camera.
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3379 Turbulence (4490)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting