Estimating Fuel Consumption for the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina

Goodrick, Scott L.; Shea, Dan; Blake, J. P.

doi:10.1093/sjaf/34.1.5

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The model simulates total emissions in response to the estimated rate of spread. The modeled fuel consumption is similar to empirically measured results under similar environmental and fuel load condition at SRS (Goodrick et al 2010). For the 70 th and 97 th percentile environmental conditions, the fuel consumption averaged 72.5% and 85.0% respectively.…”

Section: Srnl-sti-2017-00689supporting

confidence: 75%

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Predicted cumulative dose to firefighters and the offsite public from natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in smoke from wildland fires at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina USA

Viner

Jannik

Hepworth

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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The contaminated ground surface at Savannah River Site (SRS) is a result of the decades of work that has been performed maintaining the country's nuclear stockpile and performing research and development on nuclear materials. The volatilization of radionuclides during wildfire results in airborne particles that are dispersed within the smoke plume and may result in doses to downwind firefighters and the public. To better understand the risk that these smoke plumes present, we have characterized four regions at SRS in terms of their fuel characteristics and radiological contamination on the ground. Combined with general meteorological conditions describing typical and extreme burn conditions, we have simulated potential fires in these regions and predicted the potential radiological dose that could be received by firefighting personnel and the public surrounding the SRS. In all cases, the predicted cumulative dose was a small percent of the US Department of Energy regulatory limit (0.25 mSv). These predictions were conservative and assumed that firefighters would be exposed for the duration of their shift and the public would be exposed for the entire day over the duration of the burn. Realistically, firefighters routinely rotate off the firefront during their shift and the public would likely remain indoors much of the day. However, we show that even under worst-case conditions the regulatory limits are not exceeded. We can infer that the risks associated with wildfires would not be expected to cause cumulative doses above the level of concern to either responding personnel or the offsite public.

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Section: Srnl-sti-2017-00689supporting

confidence: 75%

“…The predominant fuel to carry a fire are litter, small twigs, and branches, which also contribute the largest fraction to smoke emissions at the Site (Goodrick et al 2010). Duff or decaying litter also contributes to emissions, but not fire spread.…”

Section: Srnl-sti-2017-00689mentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicted cumulative dose to firefighters and the offsite public from natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in smoke from wildland fires at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina USA

Viner

Jannik

Hepworth

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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“…The model simulates total emissions in response to the estimated rate of spread. The modeled fuel consumption is similar to empirically measured results under similar environmental and fuel load condition at the SRS (Goodrick et al 2010). For the 70 th and 97 th percentile environmental conditions, the fuel consumption averaged 71% and 85% respectively.…”

Section: Srnl-sti-2014-00469supporting

confidence: 75%

Modelling and mitigating dose to firefighters from inhalation of radionuclides in wildland fire smoke

Viner

Jannik

Stone

et al. 2015

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Firefighters responding to wildland fires where surface litter and vegetation contain radiological contamination will receive a radiological dose by inhaling resuspended radioactive material in the smoke. This may increase their lifetime risk of contracting certain types of cancer. Using published data, we modelled hypothetical radionuclide emissions, dispersion and dose for 70th and 97th percentile environmental conditions and for average and high fuel loads at the Savannah River Site. We predicted downwind concentration and potential dose to firefighters for radionuclides of interest (137Cs, 238Pu, 90Sr and 210Po). Predicted concentrations exceeded dose guidelines in the base case scenario emissions of 1.0 × 107 Bq ha–1 for 238Pu at 70th percentile environmental conditions and average fuel load levels for both 4- and 14-h shifts. Under 97th percentile environmental conditions and high fuel loads, dose guidelines were exceeded for several reported cases for 90Sr, 238Pu and 210Po. The potential for exceeding dose guidelines was mitigated by including plume rise (>2 m s–1) or moving a small distance from the fire owing to large concentration gradients near the edge of the fire. This approach can quickly estimate potential dose from airborne radionuclides in wildland fire and assist decision-making to reduce firefighter exposure.

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“…Although it is difficult to establish the current absolute deficit, the results of these studies suggest that there are significant opportunities for the SOC sequestration in post-agricultural upland soils at SRS. We believe that the potential for additional SOC sequestration is important in the restoration of longleaf pine ecosystems in the region because both the habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers and the grass-herb understory is improved at very low pine and hardwood overstory stocking levels [67]. These low target stocking levels are typically 1/5 to 1/2 of managed pine plantations resulting in a loss in overstory C stocks [7,59].…”

Section: Soil Organic Carbonmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Farms to Forests: Landscape Carbon Balance after 50 Years of Afforestation, Harvesting, and Prescribed Fire

Aubrey

Blake

Zarnoch

2019

Forests

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Establishing reliable carbon baselines for landowners desiring to sustain carbon sequestration and identify opportunities to mitigate land management impacts on carbon balance is important; however, national and regional assessments are not designed to support individual landowners. Such baselines become increasingly valuable when landowners convert land use, change management, or when disturbance occurs. We used forest inventories to quantify carbon stocks, estimate annual carbon fluxes, and determine net biome production (NBP) over a 50-year period coinciding with a massive afforestation effort across ~80,000 ha of land in the South Carolina Coastal Plain. Forested land increased from 48,714 ha to 73,824 ha between 1951 and 2001. Total forest biomass increased from 1.73–3.03 Gg to 17.8–18.3 Gg, corresponding to biomass density increases from 35.6–62.2 Mg ha−1 to 231.4–240.0 Mg ha−1. Harvesting removed 1340.3 Gg C between 1955 and 2001, but annual removals were variable. Fire consumed 527.1 Gg C between 1952 and 2001. Carbon exported by streams was <0.5% of total export. Carbon from roots and other harvested material that remained in-use or in landfills comprised 49.3% of total harvested carbon. Mineral soil carbon accounted for 41.6 to 50% of 2001 carbon stocks when considering depths of 1.0 or 1.5 m, respectively, and was disproportionately concentrated in wetlands. Moreover, we identified a soil carbon deficit of 19–20 Mg C ha−1, suggesting opportunities for future soil carbon sequestration in post-agricultural soils. Our results provide a robust baseline for this site that can be used to understand how land conversion, forest management, and disturbance impacts carbon balance of this landscape and highlight the value of these baseline data for other sites. Our work also identifies the need to manage forests for multiple purposes, especially promotion of soil carbon accumulation in low-density pine savannas that are managed for red-cockaded woodpeckers and therefore demand low aboveground carbon stocks.

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Estimating Fuel Consumption for the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Predicted cumulative dose to firefighters and the offsite public from natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in smoke from wildland fires at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina USA

Predicted cumulative dose to firefighters and the offsite public from natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in smoke from wildland fires at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina USA

Modelling and mitigating dose to firefighters from inhalation of radionuclides in wildland fire smoke

From Farms to Forests: Landscape Carbon Balance after 50 Years of Afforestation, Harvesting, and Prescribed Fire

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