• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Atmospheric Sciences
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Atmospheric Sciences
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Climate and predictability of Alaska wildfires

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Bieniek_P_2007.pdf
    Size:
    81.58Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Bieniek, Peter A.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/5511
    Abstract
    Wildfires burn an average of 3,760km² each year in Alaska, but varies greatly from year to year. These fires, started by human and natural causes, can endanger life and property when they approach populated areas. The relationship between seasonal area burned and monthly and seasonal average mean sea level pressure, surface air temperature, total column precipitable water, 500hPa and 700hPa geopotential height, 700hPa specific humidity and 1000-500hPa layer thickness is examined. The assessment was done by examining the spring and summer seasonal composites associated with extreme high and low seasons. This showed the predominant anomalies from the climatology for seasons of both extremes. Point correlations were also made between seasonal area burned and the aforementioned climate variables for the entire Northern Hemisphere. Points of particularly high correlation with area burned were used in multiple regressions for both spring and summer, and for the preseason only to predict seasonal area burned. Results show correlations of about 0.78 for the preseason regression and 0.91 for the total period. The seasonal area burned in Alaska is intimately linked with the ongoing synoptic situation on monthly and seasonal scales before and during the fire season.
    Description
    Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2007
    Table of Contents
    1. Introduction -- 1.1. Wildfire in Alaska -- 1.2. Weather, climate and wildfires -- 1.3. Objectives -- 2. Data and methods -- 2.1. Data -- 2.1.1. Alaska area burned -- 2.1.2. Reanalysis data -- 2.2. Methods -- 2.2.1. Selection of extreme years -- 2.2.2. Composite anomalies -- 2.2.3. Selection of predictors -- 2.2.4. Multiple regression -- 2.2.5. Cross-validation and assessment -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Seasonal composite anomalies -- 3.1.1. MAM extreme high years -- 3.1.2. JJA extreme high years -- 3.1.3. MAM extreme low years -- 3.1.4. JJA extreme low years -- 3.2. Multiple regression -- 3.2.1. Spring and summer -- 3.2.2. Preseason -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Climatology of extreme years -- 4.2. Diagnosing and predicting area burned -- 5. Summary and conclusions -- 5.1. Extremes climatology -- 5.2. Prediction of area burned -- 5.3. Future work -- References -- Appendices.
    Date
    2007-12
    Type
    Thesis
    Collections
    Atmospheric Sciences

    entitlement

     
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual.

    Learn more about UA’s notice of nondiscrimination.

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.