Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Dixon, P. Grady

Committee Member

Mercer, Andrew E.

Committee Member

Varner, Julian Morgan

Date of Degree

12-13-2014

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

The United States has arbitrary weather criteria for a prescribed burn day to happen. This arbitrary criteria gives prescribed-burn managers a limited amount of days they can burn. To solve this, I established a 30-year climatology based on daily mixing height (m). I then calculated burn-day thresholds based on different mixing heights. I found seasonal and spatial patterns of the amount of days that are prescribed burns. Southeastern United States was my study area. A small decrease in threshold values will lead to large increases in prescribed burn days. Digital maps were created to show the spatial variability of prescribed burn days and the effects of lowering thresholds for prescribed burn days. This research will aid policy makers in lessening the criteria for burn days.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19631

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