Smouldering Earth

This research focuses on a form of combustion called smouldering and its propagation through organic soils, such as peat. Our research aims to improve our understanding of smouldering fire phenomena in natural peatlands, and eventually inform the policy and management of smouldering peatland fires. We run small-scale laboratory experiments where we mimic the heterogeneous moisture distribution found in real peatlands and record the propagation of the smouldering fire using infra-rad cameras, visual images, thermocouples and changes in mass.

Results are published in:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eco.1898

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716303564

http://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF15103

Project PyroMAP – funded by a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant

Project PyroMap aimed to achieve two things:

1. Find novel approaches to estimate how shifts in palaeo climate and fossil leaves could be utilised to predict the likelihood of fire. I.e. fire risk based on climatic drivers alone. see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12417
2. Improve methods for quantify fire activity in Earth’s past. see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12337 and https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959683615618264