Hydro-geomorphic response models for burned areas and their applications in land management

Classify & Cross-ref
TitleHydro-geomorphic response models for burned areas and their applications in land management
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsNyman, P, Sheridan, GJ, Lane, PNJ
JournalProgress in Physical Geography
Volume37
Issue6
Pagination787 - 812
Date Published12/2013
ISSN0309-1333
AbstractErosion, flash floods and debris flows are hydro-geomorphic processes that intensify due to catchment disturbance by wildland fire. Predictive models of these processes are used by land managers to quantify reha- bilitation effectiveness, prioritize resources andevaluate trade-offs between different managementstrategies. Predictions can be difficult to make, however, because of heterogeneous landscapes, stochastic rainfall, and the transient and variable fire effects. This paper reviews hydro-geomorphic response models for burned areasandexploreshowmodellingapproachesandsourcesofuncertaintychangedependingonthefocusques- tion (or purpose) and the associated spatial-temporal scale of the model domain. The review shows that cur- rent models focus primarily on predicting catchment responses during a recovery period (within-burn timescales), a relatively short temporal window during which rainfall is an important source of uncertainty. At longer (between-burn) timescales, the fire regime itself, and not just fire severity, becomes a variable com- ponent of the model. At this temporal scale, the catchment processes respond to variations in the frequency and severity with which a landscape is conditioned (or ‘primed’) by fire and rain storms. Conditioning is a sto- chastic process that is determined by the spatial-temporal overlap of fire disturbance and rain storms. The translation of overlaps to hydro-geomorphic responses is a function of intrinsic catchment attributes (e.g. permeability, slope and catchment area). Capturing the stochastic interplay between fire and rain storms is important when land-management questions shift towards the issues of climate change and landscape-scale interventions such as prescribed burning. The review therefore includes a discussion on fire and rainfall regimes as variables which drive decadal and regional variability in hydro-geomorphic processes
DOI10.1177/0309133313508802
Short TitleProgress in Physical Geography