New features in WRF-SFIRE and the wildfire forecasting and danger system in Israel

Abstract. Recent advances in computational capabilities of computer clusters made operational deployments of coupled atmosphere-fire models feasible, as the weather and fire spread forecast can be nowadays generated faster than real time. This paper presents new developments in the coupled WRF-SFIRE model and related software in past two years, being a response to the needs of the community interested in operational testing of WRF-SFIRE. We describe a new concept of the fireline intensity intended to better inform about the local fire front properties and fire danger. We present a fuel moisture model and a fuel moisture data assimilation system based on the Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) observations, allowing for fire simulations across landscapes and time scales of varying fuel moisture conditions. The paper also describes the implementation of a coupling with the atmospheric chemistry and aerosol schemes in WRF-Chem allowing for simulation of smoke dispersion and effects of fires on air quality, as well as a data assimilation method allowing for starting the fire simulations from an observed fire perimeters instead of ignition points. Finally, an example of an operational deployment and new visualization and the data management tools are presented.