Measuring prescribed fire temperatures
Prescribed fire is used in the Northern Great Plains region to enhance native vegetation and control invasive plants. Fire characteristics, including fire temperatures and duration of lethal heating, are dependent upon fuel loads, fuel moisture, and environmental conditions (e.g. ambient temperature). Measurement of fire characteristics is important because these characteristics are related to plant tissue damage and other measures of fire severity.
Maximum temperature and heating duration differed by year, site, and treatment in complex ways. These differences were mainly attributed to the effects that annual variation, site variation, and time since previous fire can have on fuel loading.
This research brief for research managers summarizes the following peer-reviewed publication:
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