FISC is a process-based understory fire model developed for tropical forests. FISC is a spatially-explicit model that simulates both fire ignition1 and propagation processes2. Fire ignition is a function of land use, depicted by spatial determinants—such as distances to deforested land, roads and towns, elevation and land-use restrictions—and climatic seasonality represented by monthly VPD data (vapor pressure deficit). Annual land-use and monthly climate probabilities maps are combined to produce a space-time model for fire occurrence. The fire spread component employs a cellular automata model to simulate fire propagation as a function of distance to ignition sources (as set by the fire occurrence model), terrain features―such as upslope direction, obstacles, different land usesꟷ, fuel loads, and wind direction. CARLUC, nested in FISC, simulates fuel loads dynamics, forest regrowth, and carbon emissions.

Brando PM, Soares-Filho B, Rodrigues L, Assunção A, Morton D, Tuchschneider D, Fernandes ECM, Macedo MN, Oliveira U and Coe MT (2020) The gathering firestorm in southern Amazonia. Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay1632.

Silvestrini RA, Soares-Filho BS, Nepstad D, Coe M, Rodrigues HO, Assunção R (2011) Simulating fire regimes in the Amazon in response to climate change and deforestation. Ecological Applications 21:1573–1590.

Soares-Filho BS, Silvestrini R, Nepstad D, Brando P, Rodrigues HO, Alencar A, Coe M, Locks C, Lima L, Hissa LBV, Stickler C. (2012) Forest fragmentation, climate change and understory fire regimes on the Amazonian landscapes of the Xingu headwaters. Landscape Ecology 27:585-598.