Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Cooke III, H. William

Committee Member

Wax, L. Charles

Committee Member

Dixon, Grady P.

Date of Degree

5-2-2009

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Mississippi’s landscape is comprised of sixtyive percent forest and is a vital artery for the state economy. Each year, an average of 4,000 wildfires occur that burn more than 60,000 acres statewide. This study examines correlations of cumulative precipitation for Mississippi’s nine physiographic regions during 1991– 2005 with total number of acres burned during peak wildfire season in Mississippi. Statistical analyses suggests that significant correlations exist between the cumulative precipitation at one, two, and three months prior to Mississippi’s early wildfire season and the total number of acres burned and the total number of fires. These findings, in conjunction with ongoing Mississippi wildfire research, may be incorporated into a potential predictive fire risk model for the state of Mississippi.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15152

Download

Share

COinS