A new software tool that can predict the severity and spread of destructive bushfires has been released by CSIRO. The software, known as ‘Spark’ will give fire-fighting agencies a more accurate view of fire behaviour, informing decisions that could minimise property damage and save lives.
Spark takes current knowledge of fire behaviour and combines it with state-of-the-art simulation science to predict the future location of bushfires and the spread of those already burning.
The framework uses geospatial data, such as vegetation types, topography and un-burnable elements such as roads and bodies of water, as well as weather data such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction. Spark then uses this data to model the spread of a fire based on its specific location and current environmental conditions.
Dr Mahesh Prakash, one of CSIRO’s computational modelling researchers, described the software as a highly flexible simulation environment. “Spark has the potential to be used operationally for real-time fire spread modelling of bushfires,” he said.
Click here for source (CSIRO)
Photo: CSIRO
