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Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998
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Where there's smoke ... there's data
Researchers from the Laboratory today plan to observe a controlled burn at a Florida wildlife refuge to gather data that will help make a computer model of wildfire behavior more realistic and beneficial to firefighters and others.
The Laboratory team will gather data from a planned prescribed burn of marshland at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge located at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center.
"We are pleased that we have the opportunity to enter into a cooperative effort between physical scientists and fire-management personnel," said Jim Bossert of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (EES-8). "The combined expertise between fire personnel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Lab scientists will allow us to gather data that are essential for understanding the effects of fire on an ecosystem and for assessing the performance of our Wildfire Prediction System."
Scientists hope the Los Alamos Wildfire Prediction System eventually will accurately and rapidly predict the spread and behavior of wildfires. Researchers plan to have these models ready in the near future so they can be used to help fire professionals more effectively fight fires, train firefighters or plan strategies to prevent catastrophic fire conditions.
Weather conditions drive fire behavior, but fires also drive weather conditions. Existing wildfire models do not take into account the complex interaction between a fire and local weather conditions. Consequently, current models are restricted to a limited range of scenarios.
The Los Alamos Wildfire Prediction System -- which capitalizes on the Laboratory expertise in high-performance supercomputing -- is one of the first to actively integrate fire and weather behaviors.
Fire behavior is driven by local weather conditions such as winds, temperature and moisture. For the Wildfire Prediction System, researchers use the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System -- RAMS -- to predict variable weather patterns. The RAMS model, originally developed at Colorado State University, uses data from all over the country to predict weather parameters. RAMS then translates the information into smaller and smaller geographical areas. Weather predictions from RAMS in the vicinity of a fire are used by a high-resolution model called HIGRAD to accurately simulate weather variables across a fire line. HIGRAD was developed by Los Alamos and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
To study interactions between winds and fires, the researchers have combined the HIGRAD model with BEHAVE, the U.S. Forest Service's fire behavior model. The combined modeling system is the first step in predicting the actual progression and heat release of a wildfire. Lab researchers used the combined system to model several real fires -- the tragic South Canyon fire near Glenwood Springs, Colo., that killed 14 firefighters on July 6, 1994, and the Calabasas fire near Malibu, Calif., on Oct. 22, 1996.
To further study and understand actual fire behavior, Laboratory scientists are developing FIRETEC, a computer model that incorporates basic physical and chemical properties of fire. By investigating, understanding and modeling the fundamental principles of fire, the researchers can build models that more accurately predict wildfire behavior.
Bossert said the interagency cooperation has been crucial to model development. In early 1997, Lab researchers first approached officials from Kennedy Space Center and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge -- a 92,000 acre reserve that overlaps portions of the space center -- about the interagency effort to develop the model.
In April 1997, Lab researchers joined personnel from the refuge, Dynamac Corp., NASA, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Forest Service, National Weather Service and others for the first controlled burn. The spread and intensity of that first burn, which seared its way through fields of Florida scrub, was monitored by instruments aboard a Lear jet supplied by NASA's AMES Research Center.
Today's burn will take place in marshland covered predominantly by dense grassy vegetation. The Los Alamos team will use portable stations to monitor weather conditions near the fire. Team members also will use instruments to measure the heat of the blaze and will observe how quickly the fire spreads. In addition, the team will gather information on the smoke plume, fuel characteristics and other variables.
Once combined, the data will help the researchers continue to build a more realistic model.
Lab researchers are using the Nirvana Blue supercomputer to help develop the model. Nirvana Blue uses the same technology as the Lab's Blue Mountain machine, part of DOE's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative and a key element of science-based stockpile stewardship activities.
Los Alamos research team members include Bossert, Rod Linn and Jon Reisner of EES-8; Frank Harlow of Fluid Dynamics (T-3); Andy White, director of the Lab's Delphi supercomputing project; and Peter Ladelfe of Astrophysics and Radiation Measurements (NIS-2).
--James E. Rickman
Panel discussion begins at 1 p.m. today
A panel discussion on "Corporate Consciousness and the Black Community" begins at 1 p.m. today on the second floor of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center.
The African American Diversity Working Group is sponsoring the panel discussion as part of the Laboratory's observance of national Black History Month. It is open to University of California Lab employees and subcontract personnel, said Betty Harris of Analytical Chemistry (NMT-1/CMR). Harris is a member of the Lab's African American Diversity Working Group.
The three-person panel consists of attorney Jane Wells Starke of Los Alamos, Wanda Cody Padilla of the Institute for Intercultural Community Leadership at Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe and James B. Lewis, city administrator for the city of Rio Rancho.
Starke will talk about alternative dispute resolution.
Padilla will talk about how people of various ethnicities experience loss because of myths, biases and prejudices.
Lewis will discuss why African Americans should become involved in political processes and the role of the African American manager in the private/public sector.
Black History Month began in 1915, when noted black scholar and historian Carter Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
More information about Black History Month can be found at http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html online. This web page also contains electronic links to other information about black history and Black History Month.
For more information about the panel discussion, call Harris at 5-4574.
--Steve Sandoval
Diversity Council nomination deadline is tomorrow
Tomorrow is the deadline for Laboratory employees, subcontract personnel and students to submit nominations to serve on the Laboratory's Diversity Council and five working groups.
Nominations can be submitted to the attention of Rosie Vigil in the Laboratory's Diversity (DV) Office.
The council and working groups were created in 1996 in response to employees' concerns about communication on diversity issues at the Lab, said Debbi Wersonick of the Diversity Office.
Individuals selected to serve on the council or working groups will be asked to serve a two-year renewable term, said Wersonick. The Council and working groups usually meet twice monthly, and personnel interested in serving must have the permission of their supervisor, said Wersonick.
The Diversity Council, made up of employees Labwide, consists of 23 members and addresses Labwide diversity issues. There are working groups for women, Asian American, Hispanic, African American and Native American employees.
Each of the working groups have between 10 and 20 members, she said.
"Prospective members must have an interest in Labwide diversity, a positive attitude toward the need for enhancement of diversity at the Laboratory, a willingness to serve as an individual, and the ability to work as a team member," Diversity Office Director Marion Timm said in a master management memo about the diversity working groups' call for nominees.
Interested employees can obtain a nomination form online (Adobe Acrobat Reader required) by accessing the master management memo on the request for nominations, or from the Diversity Office. Nomination forms should be returned to Vigil in the Diversity Office at Mail Stop C329.
--Steve Sandoval
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