Investigating Environmental Risk from Climate Change in Canada: Fire Fuel Consumption, Severity and Ecosystem Response Indicators using LiDAR (FISIL)

调查加拿大气候变化带来的环境风险：使用激光雷达 (FISIL) 的火灾燃料消耗、严重程度和生态系统响应指标

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04492
• 负责人: Chasmer, Laura
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Lethbridge
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=683137
• 关键词: Investigating; Environmental; Risk; Climate; Change

Warming and drying trends in western Canada's Boreal region have increased due to climate warming. This has caused a marked shift in the area burned by wildfire over the last 10 years, doubling that of the 1970's. The area burned by wildfire is expected to increase over the next century due to continued warming and longer fire seasons. While fires are a natural part of ecosystem succession, they also pose significant threats to the economic and social stability of urban and industrial areas. Drying wetlands may provide additional fuel for wildfires, potentially having negative human health implications as a result of lingering air pollution. Yet the vulnerability of wetlands to wildfire is difficult to quantify, especially over broad and often remote regions, but is required for better understanding of the climatic, ecological and social consequences of wildfires now and in the future. My research program, FISIL, will improve understanding of vegetation structural, topographic and hydrological drivers of forest fire fuel consumption and post-fire vegetation regeneration trajectories within wetland to forest transitional zones that have undergone recent natural or anthropogenic change. Wetland ground cover and short vegetation canopies are of particular concern because their impacts on fire severity are not well understood, and are poorly parameterised in operational fire prediction models. My career-long research program will examine interactions between ecosystem change and environmental hazards associated with ecological and environmental change feedbacks. My short-term objective uses a multi-disciplinary approach to examine risks and effects from wildfire within drying ecosystems undergoing succession. My research program will use cutting-edge, rare pre- and post-fire 3D airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) datasets, in situ field data collection/validation, and the integration of localised hydrological, meteorological and greenhouse gas instrumentation to examine the implications of fire on local ecosystems. Sites include a range of wetlands within sub-humid parts of the Boreal Plains ecoregion, previously disturbed oil sands regions south of Fort McMurray, and sensitive areas of thawing permafrost in north-western Canada. The results of this research will provide urgently needed quantification of the driving mechanisms associated with ground and short vegetation biomass fuel consumption, the potential for greenhouse gas emissions and changes in ecosystem regeneration. Further, what we learn here may also be used to improve pollution models, and is expected to have implications on human health and society for improved community fire mitigation strategies. Finally, students involved in my research program will be exposed to a broad range of learning, experimentation and outreach experiences that will make them highly valued leaders of tomorrow.

由于气候变暖，加拿大西部北方地区的变暖和干燥趋势增加了。在过去的10年中，这引起了野火烧毁的地区的显着转变，使1970年代的变化翻了一番。由于持续变暖和更长的火灾季节，野火燃烧的区域预计将在下个世纪增加。尽管火灾是生态系统继承的自然组成部分，但它们也对城市和工业地区的经济和社会稳定构成了重大威胁。干燥的湿地可能会为野火提供额外的燃料，由于空气污染挥之不去，可能对人类健康产生负面影响。然而，很难量化湿地对野火的脆弱性，尤其是在广阔的偏远地区，但要更好地理解现在和将来的野火的气候，生态和社会后果所必需的。我的研究计划FISIL将提高人们对森林火灾燃料消耗的植被结构，地形和水文驱动因素，以及湿地内湿地植被再生轨迹，以对最近发生的自然或人为变化的森林过渡区域。湿地的地面覆盖物和短植被檐篷特别令人关注，因为它们对火灾严重程度的影响尚不清楚，并且在操作火灾预测模型中参数较差。我的职业生涯研究计划将研究生态系统变化与生态和环境变化反馈相关的环境危害之间的相互作用。我的短期目标使用一种多学科的方法来检查野火的风险和影响，在干燥生态系统中进行继承。我的研究计划将使用尖端，罕见的前后3D空降光检测和范围（LIDAR）数据集，原位现场数据收集/验证，以及局部水文，气象和温室气体仪器的整合，以检查火灾对本地生态系统的影响。地点包括北方平原生态区的亚湿地地区的一系列湿地，以前干扰的麦克默里堡以南的油砂区域以及加拿大西北部的敏感地区的敏感区域。这项研究的结果将迫切需要量化与地面和短植物生物量燃料消耗相关的驾驶机制，这是温室气体排放的潜力以及生态系统再生的变化。此外，我们在这里学到的知识也可以用来改善污染模型，并有望对人类健康和社会有影响，以改善社区消防策略。最后，参与我的研究计划的学生将接触到广泛的学习，实验和外展经验，这将使他们成为明天的高度重视领导者。