PyroC.pt project: Final report

Abstract

The 4-years PyroC.pt project aimed to obtain a better representation of fuel properties and pyroconvection understanding in Portugal encompassing the following specific goals: i) to improve the coupling between physiography and surface schemes used in NWP models, ii) to obtain a more realistic numerical representation of wildfires from coupled models, iii) to obtain a better understanding of pyro-convection, as well as its impact in the atmospheric processes, and iv) to assess a seasonal wildfire risk based on surface modelling forced by long-range forecast. The project was based on observations and mainly on the French models SURFEX, AROME, Meso-NH and ForeFire. Besides the different ways to improve fuel characterization from combining remote sensing, numerical modelling and machine learning approach, the project allowed a better understanding of atmospheric processes that occur during large forest fires in Portugal. These processes range from vegetation dynamics to physical processes that occur in the atmosphere depending on fire behavior. Overall, the project gave insights into how numerical modelling can help to understand the processes related to wildfires dynamics and opened ways to future research into this topic.