ESR2 Project

Background: Cross-landscape fuel moisture content is highly variable but not considered in existing fuel models. Capturing fuel moisture complexity and its associated controls is critical for understanding wildfire behaviour and danger in emerging fire-prone environments that are influenced by local heterogeneity. This is particularly true for temperate heathland and peatland landscapes that exhibit spatial differences in the vulnerability of their globally important carbon stores to wildfire. Here we quantified the range of variability in the live and dead fuel moisture of Calluna vulgaris across a temperate fire-prone landscape through an intensive fuel moisture sampling campaign. We also evaluated the landscape and micrometeorological drivers of landscape fuel moisture variability for temperate heathlands and peatlands for the first time.

Results: Cross-landscape fuel moisture was highly variable and spanned known fuel moisture thresholds, demonstrating spatial variability in the potential for wildfire spread in live Calluna and smouldering combustion in the soil organic layer. Spatial differences were particularly important during the peak spring fire season when live canopy fuel moisture was lowest and least variable. Landscape and micrometeorological factors explained up to 72% of spatial fuel moisture variation. Landscape factors were predominantly more important beyond modifying microclimate. Landscape–fuel moisture relationships showed differences by layer and season, highlighting the criticality of fuel phenology in assessing landscape fuel moisture variations in temperate environments.

Conclusions: Understanding the mechanisms driving fuel moisture variability opens opportunities to develop locally robust fuel models for input into wildfire danger rating systems, adding versatility to wildfire danger assessments as a management tool.

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