Sarah Loveday

Sarah is a Bushfire CRC Associate Student, currently completing her Honours at the University of Sydney.

Moisture content is an important factor in determining the probability of ignition and rate of combustion of dead fine surface fuels. The National Fire Danger Rating System Working Group has identified a need for better fuel moisture predictions as a component of a new fire danger rating system. Currently, firefighting agencies in Australia use the Forest and Grass Fire Danger Indices to assess the risk of fire. These Indices do not account a number of factors including topography.

Sarah's research aimed to investigate the effects of slope and aspect on fuel moisture content, fuel temperature and solar radiation intensity. Current research predicts that northern, steeper slopes will receive more solar radiation during the day, and thus produce lower fuel moisture contents. Sarah will used two sites in NSW: Winmalee and Hornsby, to collect litter samples from north, south, east and west aspects on small hills to provide evidence for these predictions. These locations are both defined as open dry-sclerophyll forests. Additionally, Sarah looked to draw out the effect of the diurnal cycle (particularly for east and west facing slopes).