Ivison Katy, Little Kerryn, Orpin Alice, Lewis C H M, Dyer Niamh, Keyzor Lily, Everett Luke, Stoll Erin, Andersen Roxane, Graham Laura J, Kettridge Nicholas
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso, KW147JD, UK.
Sci Data. 2024 Sep 6;11(1):973. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03832-w.
Fuel moisture content (FMC) is important for the ignitability, behaviour and severity of wildfires. Understanding the drivers of FMC and its spatial and temporal variability can help us develop fuel moisture models and inform assessments of wildfire behaviour and danger. Here we present the first United Kingdom (UK) national-scale temperate FMC dataset of 8,057 samples of eighteen different fuel constituents collected across 58 sampling sites between 2021-2023. We sampled fuels across emerging fire-prone ecosystems in the UK across three studies: (1) UK-wide longer-term sampling characterising the spatio-temporal drivers of FMC; (2) landscape-scale measurement through the North Yorkshire Moors to investigate landscape-driven variability in FMC; (3) plot-scale intensive sampling in the West Midlands to quantify diurnal patterns and among-sampler variability in fuel measurements. This database addresses a global fuel moisture measurement gap within traditionally non-fire prone regions. The database will advance our understanding of temperate fuel moisture dynamics and forms a fundamental contribution towards the development of a fire danger rating system for traditionally non-fire prone regions such as the UK.
燃料含水量（FMC）对于野火的可燃性、行为及严重程度至关重要。了解FMC的驱动因素及其时空变异性有助于我们开发燃料湿度模型，并为野火行为和危险评估提供信息。在此，我们展示了首个英国全国范围的温带FMC数据集，该数据集包含2021年至2023年间在58个采样点采集的18种不同燃料成分的8057个样本。我们通过三项研究对英国新兴火灾易发生态系统中的燃料进行了采样：（1）全英范围的长期采样，以表征FMC的时空驱动因素；（2）通过北约克郡沼泽地进行景观尺度测量，以调查景观驱动的FMC变异性；（3）在西米德兰兹郡进行样地尺度的密集采样，以量化燃料测量中的昼夜模式和采样器间的变异性。该数据库填补了传统非火灾易发地区全球燃料湿度测量的空白。该数据库将增进我们对温带燃料湿度动态的理解，并为开发像英国这样的传统非火灾易发地区的火灾危险评级系统做出重要贡献。
