Simulation of Localized Forest Fires in North China based on WRF-SFIRE Model
Online published: 2026-04-13
North China is characterized by complex topography,featuring dense vegetation in the Taihang Mountains and Yanshan Mountains. Forest fires frequently occur during winter and spring. To address the need for simulating and predicting forest fire spread at meso-and micro-scale,this study employs the coupled atmo‐ spheric-wildfire model WRF-SFIRE to conduct high-resolution simulations of a forest fire event that occurred at the Jin-Ji junction during the“2-20”period in 2021. Seven sensitivity experiments are designed to assess the ef‐ fects of topography,land use,fuel type,land surface assimilation forcing,and large eddy simulation. The exper‐ iments incorporate GDEMV3 30 m topography,GLC_FCS30_2020 30 m land use,ESA_WorldCover 10 m land cover,and CLDAS high-precision soil temperature and moisture initial fields. The results demonstrate that the WRF-SFIRE model effectively reproduces the diurnal variations and probability distribution of wind speed,wind direction,and temperature,demonstrating strong agreement between simulated and observed meteorological fields. The simulated fire evolution exhibits distinct stages of ignition,stabilization,acceleration,and decay. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the simulated burn area closely match satellite-based fire detection re‐ sults,accurately reflecting the real fire development process. The sensitivity experiments under different configu‐ rations reveal that incorporating high-resolution static datasets substantially improves the model’s representation of wind field structure and fire behavior. Notably,land use and fuel accuracy have the most pronounced influ‐ ence on fire spread,while topographic elevation significantly modulates the feedback process of forest fire be‐ havior in complex terrain. Moreover,introducing CLDAS soil temperature and moisture fields as driving inputs notably enhances the simulation accuracy of 2 m temperature,which verified its value in meso-and micro-scale forest fire forecasting. Conversely,enabling large eddy simulation(LES)at 1 km resolution did not improve t performance and instead introduced wind-related instabilities,suggesting that LES should be applied cautiously at mesoscale resolutions. In summary,this study evaluates the applicability of the WRF-SFIRE model in meso‐ scale and microscale forest regions,analyzes the meteorological evolution and fire response mechanisms during the spread of forest fires. The findings highlight that integrating multi-source high-resolution datasets with authen‐ tic land surface conditions is crucial for enhancing wildfire forecasting capabilities. This research not only ad‐ vances the theoretical understanding of atmosphere-fire interactions in complex topography,but also provides scientific support for forest and grassland fire prevention and suppression efforts,as well as long-term ecosystem conservation in North China.
GAO Huanxin, SHI Chunxiang, MAO Wenshu, QUAN Chang, XIANG Yun, ZUO Dapeng . Simulation of Localized Forest Fires in North China based on WRF-SFIRE Model[J]. Plateau Meteorology, 0 : 1 . DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2025.00103
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