Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Multiresolution Approach to Remote Sensing of Fire Fuels

野火作为一种自然干扰过程发生在世界上几乎所有的生态系统中，并在许多生态系统中占据主导地位。野火的类型、强度和频率与植被格局和气候密不可分，其中一个的任何变化都会导致其他的变化。这些关系的变化可能会导致跨越大范围时空尺度的环境结构和功能的深刻变化。从全球变暖导致的火灾制度变化到在当地范围内重新引入火以促进生态系统活力的一系列问题，促使研究人员开发出更有效、更便宜的测量、建模和测绘可以助长火灾的物质。这项博士论文研究项目将把地统计学技术应用于科罗拉多州中部野火可能消耗的燃料的现场测量，以开发用于生物物理估计燃料负荷的多分辨率遥感技术。利用传统的实地采样技术，该项目的第一阶段将对火灾燃料及其成分(凋落物、木屑、草本植物、灌木、倒下的木质材料和立木燃料)的规模依赖方面进行实证研究。在分析的第二阶段，生物物理学方法将使用地统计工具对燃料负荷的基本空间分布进行建模，以便将火灾燃料特性和分布所需的信息与多尺度遥感联系起来。该项目将构成一种新的方法，通过将遥感图像作为一个多尺度问题来估计和测绘生态系统内的火灾燃料负荷。它将为这种方法的潜在和当前限制提供新的见解，这可能为对监测火灾燃料、管理火灾风险和在从小公园和保护区到区域景观的范围内对火灾行为进行建模的资源管理者提供有价值的新信息。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

Wildfires occur as a natural disturbance process in virtually all the world's ecosystems and dominate in many. The type, intensity, and frequency of wildfire regimes are so inextricably entangled with vegetation pattern and climate that any change in one will invariably lead to changes in the others. Profound changes in environmental structure and function spanning a great range of spatial and temporal scales can result from changes in these relationships. Issues ranging from changes in fire regimes as a result of global warming to reintroduction of fire at local scales to promote ecosystem vitality have led researchers to develop more effective and less expensive for measuring, modeling, and mapping substances that can fuel fires. This doctoral dissertation research project will apply geostatistical techniques to field measurements of fuels that can be consumer by wild fires at sites in central Colorado in order to develop multi-resolution remote-sensing techniques for biophysical estimation of fuel loads. Using traditional field sampling techniques, the first stage of this project will empirically examine the scale-dependent aspects of fire fuels and their constituents (litter, duff, herbs, shrubs, downed woody material, and standing tree fuels). In the second phase of the analysis, a biophysical approach will use geostatistical tools that model the fundamental spatial distribution of fuels loads to link the information needed on fire fuel characteristics and distribution to multi-scale remote sensing. This project will constitute a new approach for estimating and mapping fire fuel loads within ecosystems through the use of remotely sensed imagery as a multi-scale problem. It will provide new insights into the potential and current limitations of this approach, which could offer valuable new information for resource managers interested in monitoring fire fuels, managing fire risk, and modeling fire behavior at scales ranging from small parks and preserves to regional landscapes. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.