Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Cooke III, William

Committee Member

Wax, Charles

Committee Member

Evans, David

Date of Degree

8-5-2006

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Forest fires demand personnel and financial resources. GIS can monitor ecological conditions that promote forest fire ignition. Visual representations of fire potential in the state could aid in staging firefighting personnel and equipment. This paper details the creation of a descriptive fire potential model for the Southeastern Fire District of Mississippi. The model includes the variables of fuels, ignition based on road density, and climate. No descriptive model of fire potential exists for Mississippi that includes a climate variable. The main objective of this research was to examine the influence of the dynamic climate variable on the model. Estimates of two water budgets were created to identify areas where evaporation exceeded precipitation and raised the potential for fires to occur. The study supported previous findings of road density as a significant variable for fire potential and validated the use of a climate variable in the model describing fire potential.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19839

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