Connecting Fire Intensity to Severity:
A New Generation of Fire Radiative Energy Experiments
Dr. Alistair M.S. Smith, University of Idaho
 
Abstract:
Fire ecology research on wildlfires is predominately reactionary (the fire has to occur prior to work starting), leading to considerable unknowns on what magnitude of the observed effects were actually caused by the fire or by another agent. This challenge is confounded by the widespread use of methods that lack units or mechanistic connections to the fire behavior. Research is needed that tests “doses of fire behavior” to evaluate the response of quantitative eco-physiological metrics. This seminar presents a background of commonly used metrics to infer fire intensity and ecological effects, presents recent research that highlights sources of uncertainty, and offers new results on the potential of fire radiative energy as a quantitative predictor of fire effects.
 
Biography:
Dr Alistair M.S. Smith is an Associate Professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Idaho and is the Director of the Idaho Fire Initiative for Research and Education (IFIRE). At the University of Idaho, Dr Smith is also Program Lead for the BS in Fire Ecology and Management, the first degree of its kind in the United States. Dr Smith received his BSc in Physics in 1999 from the University of Edinburgh and both a MSc in Physics in 2000 and a Doctorate in Geography in 2004 from King’s College London, University of London. Dr Smith has published over 65 articles in peer-reviewed journals focused on different aspects of fire science, including fire behavior, fire effects, social science, emissions, and the use of remote sensing to assess wildland fires. He serves on the editorial board for Sensors, Remote Sensing, the International Journal of Wildland Fire, and is currently a Guest Editor for a special issue in Remote Sensing of Environment. Within the United States, Dr Smith works with multiple federal agencies to improve trainings related to air quality and smoke management and helps promote the use of prescribed fires on the landscape by serving on the Governing Board of the National Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils.

Refreshments:
Pizza available from 12:45pm either in main stair lobby or in coffee area.