Estimating Post-Fire Debris-Flow Hazards in the Western United States Prior to Wildfire

Staley, Dennis M.; Kean, Jason W.; McGuire, Luke A.; Rengers, Francis K.; Pauling, Hannah; Smith, Joel B.; Tillery, Anne C.

doi:10.1130/abs/2017am-303397

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…To demonstrate the applicability of the methodology suggested above to watersheds outside of our study area, we tested this approach in a first-order watershed burned by the Pinal fire (8 May 2017) in the Pinal Mountains of southern Arizona. The study site, referred to as Kellner 2, is described in detail by Raymond et al, (2018). It has a drainage area of 0.05 km 2 , 90% of which was burned at moderate or high severity, and an average channel gradient of roughly 24°.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has a drainage area of 0.05 km 2 , 90% of which was burned at moderate or high severity, and an average channel gradient of roughly 24°. A debris flood was observed in the watershed on 16 July 2017, during a rainstorm that lasted approximately 1 h (Raymond et al, 2018). Field data from the watershed included rainfall intensity (1 min) from a tipping-bucket rain gage, high-resolution lidar topography (1 m), pressure transducer data at the basin outlet, and infiltration measurements made with a mini-disk tension infiltrometer to constrain k s (median=36 mmh À1 ) and ψ f (median=0.004 m) (Raymond et al,2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A debris flood was observed in the watershed on 16 July 2017, during a rainstorm that lasted approximately 1 h (Raymond et al, 2018). Field data from the watershed included rainfall intensity (1 min) from a tipping-bucket rain gage, high-resolution lidar topography (1 m), pressure transducer data at the basin outlet, and infiltration measurements made with a mini-disk tension infiltrometer to constrain k s (median=36 mmh À1 ) and ψ f (median=0.004 m) (Raymond et al,2018). We used the D 50 (0.00029 m) from grain-size data collected on the hillslopes to serve as the z 0 value in Equation (15), and the VPE equation was employed in the channel network using a roughness length based on the channel sediment D 84 (0.0032 m).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress in simplifying hydrologic model parameterization for broad applications to post‐wildfire flooding and debris‐flow hazards

Rengers

McGuire

Kean

et al. 2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Predicting the timing of overland flow in burned watersheds can help to estimate debris‐flow timing and the location of debris‐flow initiation. Numerical models can produce flow predictions, but they are limited by our knowledge of appropriate model parameters. Moreover, opportunities to test and calibrate model parameters in post‐wildfire settings are limited by available data (measurements of debris‐flow timing are rare). In this study, we use a unique data set of rainfall and flow‐timing data to test the extent to which model parameters can be generalized from an individual watershed to other watersheds (0.01 km 2 to >1km 2) within a burned area. Simulations suggest that a single, low, saturated hydraulic conductivity value can be used in post‐wildfire landscapes with reasonable results. By contrast, we found that watershed‐scale effective Manning roughness parameter values decrease as a power‐law function of basin drainage area. Thus a Manning roughness parameter calibrated for a single basin within a burned area may not provide adequate results in a different watershed. However, when flow velocity is modeled independently for hillslopes and channels, and different roughness parameters are used for those morphometric units, there is no drainage‐area dependence on the roughness parameters. Moreover, we found that it was possible to use field‐measured grain size data to parameterize the roughness for both hillslopes and channels. Thus our results show that, employing this generalizable approach, it is possible to use field measurements to fully parameterize a model that produces peak flow timing to within a few minutes in storms lasting several hours. Further, we demonstrate how model simulations can be leveraged to identify areas within a watershed that are most susceptible to debris flows. This modeling approach could be used for decision making in hazardous burned areas and would be especially useful in ungaged basins. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress in simplifying hydrologic model parameterization for broad applications to post‐wildfire flooding and debris‐flow hazards

Rengers

McGuire

Kean

et al. 2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…Post-wild re responses are basically transitory, incident, variable in space and time, dependent on intensity and severity, and involve multiple processes measured by different methods (Moody et al, 2013). Wild res or forest re are known to be one of the major causes of soil erosion, slope instabilities, land degradation, and a times debris ow (Martini et al, 2020;Staley et al, 2018;Gabet, 2014;Benito, 2014). These effects are felt both in temperate region and in the tropics (Lal, 1985;Malkinson and Wittenberg, 2011;Keesstra et.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Determination of Effect of Bushfire on Erosion Development in Different Soil Types

Arinze

Ekwueme

Obimba-Wogu

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Tropical forests are increasingly exposed to devastating bushfires leading to increased erosion. This work involve the study of effect of bushfire on erosion development. Four different soil samples from the study area were used for the study. In this study, the post-fire impacts of laboratory fire representing bushfire and subsequent rainfall simulation experiment representing postfire rainfall to evaluate short-term impact of fire on bare soil. The laboratory observations show that bushfire or wildfire affects the erodibility of different types of soil. When the soil under consideration contains meaningful amount of clay, initial exposure to heat tend to cement the soil sample, because clay minerals hardens on exposure to bush burning. However, it is generally observed that at 6 hours exposure to burning, the cementation is adversely affected leading to increased soil loss.

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Estimating Post-Fire Debris-Flow Hazards in the Western United States Prior to Wildfire

Cited by 2 publications

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Progress in simplifying hydrologic model parameterization for broad applications to post‐wildfire flooding and debris‐flow hazards

Progress in simplifying hydrologic model parameterization for broad applications to post‐wildfire flooding and debris‐flow hazards

Experimental Determination of Effect of Bushfire on Erosion Development in Different Soil Types

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