How does FARSITE deal with fuel moisture variation, dead and live fuels over time and space?
A10. Dead fuel moisture is computed by the simulation over time and space using the initial fuel moisture file (by surface fuel model) and the weather and wind streams you provide. The fuel moisture model is the same one used for fine fuel moisture calculation as used in BEHAVE along with some from the NFDRS. Every time FARSITE needs to make a fire behavior calculation, it calculates the current values for dead fuel moistures starting from their initial condition. The weather data (temperature and humidity at a given elevation) are adjusted for the elevation of the local calculation. Solar irradiance effects on fuel moisture are calculated for each fuel location based on slope, aspect, canopy cover, and cloud cover. This gives a degree of sensitivity in fuel moisture at each cell on the landscape to topography and overstory vegetation structure. The influence of the initial fuel moisture condition on fire behavior is often not noticeable after a few hours of simulation time for the fin
