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Soil heating during wildfires and prescribed burns: a global evaluation
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Antonio Girona-García ,
Carmen Sanchez-Garcia,
David Badía-Villas ,
Rob Bryant,
Matthew Dickinson ,
Rex Hsieh ,
Jorge Mataix-Solera ,
Jessica Miesel ,
Peter Robichaud ,
Cathelijne Stoof ,
Cristina Santin Nuno
International Journal of Wildland Fire, Volume: 34, Issue: 12, Start page: WF25103
Swansea University Authors:
Stefan Doerr , Carmen Sanchez-Garcia, Rob Bryant, Cristina Santin Nuno
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© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).
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DOI (Published version): 10.1071/wf25103
Abstract
Background: Fires can alter soil properties via downward heat transfer. Numerous studies have examined effects of wildfires and prescribed burns on soils, yet knowledge of the soil temperatures and durations reached is limited. This can lead to erroneous assumptions regarding fire impacts, especiall...
| Published in: | International Journal of Wildland Fire |
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| ISSN: | 1049-8001 1448-5516 |
| Published: |
CSIRO Publishing
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70787 |
| Abstract: |
Background: Fires can alter soil properties via downward heat transfer. Numerous studies have examined effects of wildfires and prescribed burns on soils, yet knowledge of the soil temperatures and durations reached is limited. This can lead to erroneous assumptions regarding fire impacts, especially when laboratory heating results are extrapolated to field conditions. Aims and methods: We compiled new and published data on maximum temperatures and heating durations for mineral soils during wildfires and prescribed burns in forests, shrublands and grasslands around the globe, and compared these with data from laboratory heating experiments. Key results: Most fires heated only the uppermost centimetres of the soil, rarely exceeding 300°C below 0.5 cm depth. Where 300°C was exceeded at the soil surface, heat pulses were shorter (<500 s) than those often applied in laboratory studies (30 min to 1 h). The highest soil-surface temperature occurred in a shrubland wildfire (~964°C), and longest heating durations in forests with deep duff layers (>3 h above 60°C). Conclusions and implications: Most fires, except in deep smouldering fuels, generate short and shallow soil heating. Laboratory studies with long heating durations rarely represent field conditions. When investigating fire effects on soil, inclusion of shallow near-surface layer samples is recommended. |
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| Keywords: |
burn severity, fire effects belowground, flame temperature, heat transfer, heating duration, mineral soils, soil heating, soil organic matter, soil temperature, thermocouples |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This study was supported by Leverhulme Trust Grant (RPG-2014-095) (CS, SHD), Leverhulme Trust Fellowship (RF-2016-456\2) (SHD), NERC grant IDEAL FIRE (NE/X005143/1) (SHD), European Commission H2020 project no. 101003890 (FirEUrisk) (SHD, CS), Grant RYC2021-031262-I funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (AG), Grant PID2023-146991NA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ERDF/EU’ (AG). |
| Issue: |
12 |
| Start Page: |
WF25103 |