FireBGCv2 Landscape Fire Succession Model: A Research Simulation Platform for Exploring Fire and Vegetation Dynamics

摘要

Fire management faces important emergent issues in the coming years such as climate change, fire exclusion impacts, and wildland-urban development, so new, innovative means are needed to address these challenges. Field studies, while preferable and reliable, will be problematic because of the large time and space scales involved. Therefore, landscape simulation modeling will have more of a role in wildland fire management as field studies become untenable. This report details the design and algorithms of a complex, spatially explicit landscape fire and vegetation model called FireBGCv2. FireBGCv2 is a C++ computer program that incorporates several types of stand dynamics models into a landscape simulation platform. FireBGCv2 is intended as a research tool. Descriptions of FireBGCv2 code, sample input files, and sample output are included in this report, but this report is not intended as a user's manual because the inherent complexity and wide scope of FireBGCv2 makes it unwieldy and difficult to use without extensive training. The primary purpose of this report is to document FireBGCv2 in adequate detail to interpret simulation results.