Student researcher

Dr Alex Holmes Research Leader

This project investigated the conditions leading to forest fires and their effect on fire intensity. The relationship between soil moisture and high temperature anomalies leading to increased forest fire risk was used to produce fire intensity risk maps, which will improve fire risk estimation and the forest fire danger indices. 

The research developed though this study contributes to a better understanding of the land-climate processes leading to forest fires and their intensity, and has the capacity to assist land managers with better allocation of water resources across Australia. Evidence through the research showed that fire intensity increases logarithmically with decreasing moisture.

This project was completed in September 2018.

Improving Fire Risk Estimation through Investigating Fire Intensity, Moisture and Temperature Anomalies
18 Aug 2015
The accuracy of FDI's are largely dependent on their input variables and advancements in remote sensing are...
Alex Holmes Conference Poster 2016
14 Aug 2016
Extreme temperature and deficits in soil moisture provide ample conditions for bushfires.
Variability of soil moisture proxies and hot days across the climate regimes of Australia
29 Jun 2017
Extreme temperature and deficits in soil moisture provide ideal conditions for bushfires. The mechanisms and...
Investigating the effect of soil moisture, temperature and precipitation extremes on fires risk and intensity in Australia
19 Sep 2018
The frequency of extreme events such as heatwaves are expected to increase due to the effect of climate...