Perry, Justin, Cook, Garry, Graham, Erin, Meyer, Mick, Murphy, Helen, and VanDerWal, Jeremy (2017) Regionalisation of the late dry season date. Report. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

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Abstract

[Extract] The Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) allows land managers in northern Australia to generate carbon credits by abating the direct emissions of CO2‐e gasses via prescribed burning that shifts the fire regime from dominant late dry season (LDS) fire to a more benign early dry season (EDS) fire regime. Late dry season fires occur under severe fire weather conditions – high temperatures, low humidity and fully cured fuels and are characterised by large, intense fires, with low patchiness and high fuel consumption. Prescribed burning during the EDS reduces fuel loads and burnt areas can arrest extensive wildfires later in the fire season. The 2015 ERF Savanna Fire Management Methodology Determination defines the early dry season as ending on 31 July and the late dry season as starting on 1 August and ending on 31 December across the whole Australian tropical savanna.

In this report we assess seasonal changes in fire weather indices and fire size across the 24 northern Australian IBRA (Interim Biogeographic regionalisation of Australia) bioregions over the past 35 years. We also explore the variation in climate variables known to influence fire size across each IBRA region, including their subregions. We use these analyses to evaluate the spatial and temporal stability of 1 August as a starting date, and 31 December as an end date for the LDS across the low rainfall zone (600 to 1000 mm annual rainfall) and the high rainfall zone (>1000 mm) covered by the 2015 Savanna Fire Management Determination 2015.

Item ID:	55797
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Copyright Information:	© Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 2017. To the extent permitted by law, all rights are reserved and no part of this publication covered by copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means except with the written permission of CSIRO.
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2022 01:11
FoR Codes:	05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 100%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9610 Natural Hazards > 961009 Natural Hazards in Sparseland, Permanent Grassland and Arid Zone Environments @ 100%
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