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Thursday, March 28, 2013

High-tech Collaboration to Analyze Weather and Air Quality Data

February 18—The Rocky Mountain Center (RMC) for Fire-Weather Intelligence (http://fireweather.info/), a unit of the RMRS Wildland Fire Management Research Development and Application program (http://www.wfmrda.nwcg.gov/), has joined forces with the WO Division of Wildlife, Fish, Water, Air and Rare Plants (WFWARP) in a unique long-term partnership that involves complex analysis of weather & air quality data using Forest Service supercomputers. WFM RD&A and RMC’s Air Resource Specialist Ned Nikolov, Fort Collins, and Bret Anderson of WFWARP signed a formal agreement to collaborate on atmospheric modeling projects aimed to enhance the understanding of impacts by smoke, fire, and climate on air quality and ecosystem health. Areas of mutual interest include downscaling of forecast and observed meteorological fields to improve real-time fire behavior simulations and smoke dispersion, effect of smoke emissions on tropospheric ozone and visibility, and impact of future climatic changes on regional fire potential and air quality. The new partnership was kicked off with the purchase of a new supercomputer that was successfully integrated into the RMC existing infrastructure. Ned and Bret are currently assisting litigation efforts that call for an air-quality assessment based on 3-D simulations of weather, atmospheric chemistry, and pollution transport.

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