FROSTFIRE: An experimental approach to predicting the climate feedbacks from the changing boreal fire regime

Abstract

The FROSTFIRE research project conducted a prescribed burn of a 970 ha watershed in interior Alaska. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental burn of a watershed and the most thoroughly documented prescribed fire in history. Although extensive fire research has been conducted in more temperate regions, relatively little had been done in the boreal forest and almost none in areas of discontinuous permafrost. The goal of this project was to examine the impacts of weather and vegetation on fire behavior and the resulting effects of fire on feedbacks to climate. The research was conducted in the Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watersheds near Fairbanks, Alaska. Intensive preburn surveys quantified the preburn environment, ecology, hydrology, and fuel status of the experimental watershed. This information was compared with measurements taken during and after the fire. Although the fire was artificially ignited, the fire behavior and fire effects were similar to those of naturally occurring fires. Close collaboration among agencies and among scientists of several countries was critical to the success of the project.