rothermel: Rothermel Fire Behavior Modeling System
In EcoFire/firebehavioR: Prediction of Wildland Fire Behavior and Hazard

Description Usage Arguments Details Value Author(s) References Examples

Potential surface and crown fire behavior predicted by Scott and Reinhardt (2001).

1 2	rothermel(surfFuel, moisture, crownFuel, enviro, rosMult = 1, cfbForm = "f", folMoist = "y")

`surfFuel`	a data frame of surface fuel attributes. Variable names are not important but the order is important. The first variable is a character type whereas the rest are numeric the fuel model type, either 'S'tatic or D'ynamic herb load transfer litter load (Mg/ha) 1-hr load (Mg/ha) 10-hr load (Mg/ha) 100-hr load (Mg/ha) herb load (Mg/ha) woody load (Mg/ha) litter SAV (m2/m3) 1-hr SAV (m2/m3) 10-hr SAV (m2/m3) 100-hr SAV (m2/m3) herb SAV (m2/m3) woody SAV (m2/m3) fuel bed depth (cm) moisture of extinction (%) heat content (J/g)
`moisture`	a numeric-only data frame of surface fuel moistures on a dry-weight basis (%). Variable names are not important but the following order of surface fuel components is important: litter, 1-hr woody fuels, 10-hr woody fuels, 100-hr woody fuels, live herbaceous, and live woody vegetation (6 values or columns)
`crownFuel`	a vector or data frame with canopy fuel attributes, in order: canopy bulk density (kg/m3) foliar moisture content (%) canopy base height (m) canopy fuel load (kg/m2)
`enviro`	a numeric-only data frame with environmental attributes, in order: topographic slope (%) open windspeed (km/hr) wind direction, from uphill (deg.) wind adjustment factor (0-1)
`rosMult`	a numeric value for multiplying crown fire rate of spread, defaults to 1 (see details)
`cfbForm`	a character specifying how crown fraction burned is calculated. Options are `"sr"`, `"w"`, or `"f"` (default); see details.
`folMoist`	either `"y"` (default) or `"n"`, specifying if foliar moisture effect is calculated (see details)

This in an R build of the Rothermel fire behavior modelling system (Scott & Reinhardt 2001) which links sub-models of surface fire rate of spread (Rothermel 1972), crown fire initiation (Van Wagner 1977), and Rothermel's (1991) crown fire rate of spread.
rosMult multiples the rate of spread for active or passive crown fires and is recommended a value of 1.7 when a user desires a maximum crown fire rate of spread (Rothermel 1991).
cfbForm selects the method to estimate crown fraction burned. This selection impacts estimates of passive crown fraction burned, fireline intensity, and heat per unit area. Use "sr" for Scott and Reinhardt (2001), "w" for van Wagner (1993), and "f" for Finney (1998).
folMoist, if invoked with a "y", calculates the foliar moisture effect to scale crown fire rate of spread (see Scott & Reinhardt 2001). If "n", no foliar moisture effect is determined.

a list with 6 data frames

`fireBehavior`	a data frame with fire behavior estimates including fire type, crown fraction burned (%), rate of spread (m/min), heat per unit area (kJ/m2), fireline intensity (kW/m), flame length (m), direction of max spread (deg), scorch height (m), torching index (km/hr), crowning index (km/hr), surfacing index (km/hr), effective midflame wind (km/hr), flame residence time (min)
`detailSurface`	a data frame with some intermediate variables of surface fire behavior including: potential ROS (m/min); no wind, no slope ROS (m/min); slope factor (-); wind factor (-); characteristic dead fuel moisture (%); characteristic live fuel moisture (%); characteristic SAV (m2/m3); bulk density (kg/m3); packing ratio (-); relative packing ratio (-); reaction intensity (kW/m2); heat source (kW/m2); heat sink (kJ/m3)
`detailCrown`	a data frame with some intermediate variables of crown fire behavior including: potential ROS (m/min); no wind, no slope ROS (m/min); slope factor (-); wind factor (-); characteristic dead fuel moisture (%); characteristic live fuel moisture (%); characteristic SAV (m2/m3); bulk density (kg/m3); packing ratio (-); relative packing ratio (-); reaction intensity (kW/m2); heat source (kW/m2); heat sink (kJ/m3)
`critInit`	a data frame of critical values for crown fire initiation including: fireline intensity (kW/m), flame length (m), surface ROS (m/min), Canopy base height (m)
`critActive`	a data frame of critical values for active crown fire including: canopy bulk density (kg/m3)", "ROS, crown (R'active) (m/min)
`critCess`	a data frame of critical values for cessation of crown fire including: canopy base height (m), O'cessation (km/hr)

Justin P Ziegler, justin.ziegler@colostate.edu

Rothermel, R.C. 1972. A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. INT-RP-115. USDA Forest Service Intermountain Forest & Range Experimental Station.
Van Wagner, C.E. 1977. Conditions for the start and spread of crown fire. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 7:23<e2><80><93>34.
Rothermel, R.C., 1991. Predicting behavior and size of crown fires in the northern Rocky Mountains. INT-RP-438. USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station.
Van Wagner, C.E. 1993. Prediction of crown fire behavior in two stands of jack pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23:442<e2><80><93>449.
Finney, M.A. 1998. FARSITE: Fire area simulator <e2><80><94> model development and evaluation. RMRS-RP-47. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Scott, J.H., Reinhardt, E.D. 2001. Assessing crown fire potential by linking models of surface and crown fire behavior. RMRS-RP-29. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

data(fuelModels, fuelMoisture)
#fuelModels['A10',]
exampSurfFuel = fuelModels['A10',]

#fuelMoisture['D1L1',]
exampFuelMoisture = fuelMoisture['D1L1',]

exampCrownFuel = data.frame(
 CBD = coForest$cbd_kgm3[1],
 FMC = 100,
 CBH = coForest$cbh_m[1],
 CFL = coForest$cfl_kgm2[1]
)

exampEnviro = data.frame(
 slope = 10,
 windspeed = 40,
 direction = 0,
 waf = 0.2
)
rothermel(exampSurfFuel, exampFuelMoisture, exampCrownFuel, exampEnviro)