What is SHRMC?

An inter-agency high resolution modeling consortium, one of four regional consortia the U.S. Forest Service is supporting nationwide, is being set up in coorporation with the University of Georgia. SHRMC will perform research and technology transfer necessary to generate products needed by forest managers, environmental scientists and regulatory agencies. Central to the consortium will be the weather prediction model MM5 which will generate high resolution weather data in forecasts out to 48 hrs for the thirteen southern states comprising USFS Region 8. As a regional consortium, SHRMC will connect agency and university scientists including their students with clients who need real-time predictions of environmental conditions and solutions to related problems. As part of the national consortia, SHRMC will make available products developed in other parts of the country.

 

Reasons for Consortium as regards to
fire and air quality


Fire & smoke models based on single values, indices, nomograms, and tables have proven inadequate for identifying local hazards in areas of variable terrain, fuel types and loadings, and under rapidly changing weather conditions.

Air resources from local emissions to regional haze have become more highly regulated.
 
The models used for strategic planning have increased in sophistication and complexity.
 
Information, skills, and costs needed to operate these models are greater than any land manager can possibly afford.

Output from these models routinely requires skilled technical specialists not generally available to the fire community.
 
Air regulators and their publics have developed regionally oriented consortia to help cope with technical complexity and the interstate nature of regulatory issues such as regional haze, ozone, and PM2.5.

Increasingly the fire community will participate with and benefit from the modeling consortia.
 
Early participation of the fire community will help assure that final models are appropriate for dealing with fire and smoke.

Shared funding can reduce single party costs.
 
Joint-planning will help assure usefulness of products.