Team: 47
School: Los Alamos High
Area of Science: Environmental Sciences
Proposal: Problem:
As wildfires continue ravaging the land more and more, there are heavy localized effects on the environment and communities in the areas of the fires. Specifically, one of the problems this project looks into is the erosion and flooding caused by the wildfire, which can indirectly affect communities near the fire. The area that will be modeled is the Pecos Wilderness as I have spent much time in it and also because it’s an area with current ongoing problems from recent fires.
Importance:
During the burning of a fire, entire forests can be destroyed and there is a lot of visual destruction. It may seem like the end after the devastating fires are over, but the effects can be long-lasting. The scorched soil and destroyed vegetation cause a lack of water absorption and also decreases the soil’s strength and resistance to erosion. This causes massive erosion problems and also can cause flooding that can destroy communities, trails, buildings, and many other things in the environment.
Desired Outcome:
The goal of this project is to create a computational model for erosion and the flow of water before and after a wildfire. To do this, water absorption, erosion, water and soil movement, and more will be simulated. The simulation will take a height map with different layers of soil representing as closely as possible the location being simulated. The model will then simulate the rainwater and its impact before and after the fire. The results will then be compared visually in a 3D render.
Plan:
The first thing to be worked on is to learn how to get code running on the GPU. The simulation will need this for performance. The simulation of individual water particles takes time. For an accurate simulation, at least a few million droplets need to be simulated with accurate physics. The second step is to create a basic 3D renderer to render the output of the simulation. After that, I need to look into the differences in the soil before and after a wildfire. An accurate environment also needs to be set up with multiple layers of materials. The final step is to program the simulation and run it with the provided data.
Team Members:
Sponsoring Teacher: NA