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PEMS Staff Photo Wendy Anderson

Dr Wendy Anderson

Senior Lecturer
BSc Lond., MSc Dund., PhD UNSW

School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences
UNSW @ ADFA
Canberra   ACT   2600
AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61 2 626 88895
Fax: +61 2 6268 8786
Email: w.anderson@adfa.edu.au
Location: PEMS Sth, Room G17

Research Interests: Bushfires and Combustion, Empirical modelling of fuel and fire behaviour - fuel assessment
 Bushfire modelling, Fire behaviour, Vegetation Sampling, Statistics.

Research

As a mathematician and statistician I have been involved in bushfire research for 15 years.

I am co-ordinator of a project to develop fire behaviour equations for heathland in Australia and New Zealand (see Heathland Fire Behaviour Goup pages). This is an exciting project involving collaboration between land agencies in 6 different states as well as New Zealand. Links have also been forged with fire researchers in Europe. Until now there have been no predictive equations for heathland which is a very varied fuel in structure and biological composition. The equations are being developed from the results of experimental fires as well as wildfires such as the major fires in Sydney in 1994. I have travelled throughout Australia and New Zealand discussing experimental techniques and comparing fuels.

Another recent major project has been work with CSIRO to develop equations to form the basis of a meter to replace the old McArthur meter in grasslands. This involved the analysis of 120 experimental fires in grassland in the Northern Territory.

Fire behaviour research gives opportunity for international collaboration, and I am involved in projects with the US Forest Service and the European Community to develop equations for fire behaviour based on radiative and convective heat transfer. These equations are being developed with the aid of experimental fires in wind tunnels. I regularly spend time in the USA collaborating with physicists and engineers.

I am now a project leader in the Bushfire CRC which involved in projects to determine heathland fire behaviour, fuels assessment and large fuel consumption.

Publications
  1. Plucinski MP, Catchpole WR, (2002), Vertical development of fire in shrubland fuels, in Forest Fire Research and Wildland Fire Safety, eds DX Viegas, Luso, Coimbra, Portugal, Rotterdam, p. 120.
  2. Catchpole EA, Catchpole WR, Viney NR, McCaw WL, Marsden-Smedley JB, (2001), Estimating fuel response time and predicting fuel moisture content from field data, in International Journal of Wildland Fire, vol 10 , pp. 215 - 222.
  3. Marsden-Smedley JB, Catchpole WR, (2001), Fire modelling in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands. III Dead fuel moisture, in International Journal of Wildland Fire, vol 10 , pp. 241 - 253.
  4. Marsden-Smedley JB, Catchpole WR, Pyrke A, (2001), Fire modelling in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands. IV Sustaining versus non-sustaining fires, in International Journal of Wildland Fire, vol 10 , pp. 255 - 262.
  5. Speer MS, Leslie LM, Morison R, Catchpole WR, Bradstock R, Bunker R, (2001), Modelling fire weather and fire spread rates for two bushfires near Sydney, in Australian Meteorological Magazine, vol 50 , pp. 241 - 246.
  6. Plucinski, MP, Catchpole WR, (2001), Predicting Ignition Thresholds in Litter Layers, in Integrating Models for Natural Resources Management across Disciplines, Issues and Scales, eds F Ghassemi, P Whetton, R Little, M Littleboy, ANU, Canberra, December 2001, ANU, Canberra, pp. 967 - 972.
  7. Fernandes PM, Catchpole WR, Rego FC, (2000), Shrubland fire behaviour modelling with microplot data, in Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol 30 , pp. 889 - 899.
  8. Catchpole WR, (2000), The State of the Art of Fire Research in Australia, in Euromediterranean Wildfire Meetings Research Special Session, eds , Hyeres, France; 24 October 2000, France, pp. 148 - 157.
  9. Fernandes PM, Catchpole WR, Rego FC, (2000), Shrubland fire behaviour modelling with microplot data. Can. J. For. Res. 30, 889-899.
  10. Marsden-Smedley JB, Rudman T, Pyrke A, Catchpole WR, (1999), Buttongrass moorland fire behaviour prediction and management. Tasforests 11, 87-107.
  11. Catchpole WR, Catchpole EA, Rothermel RC, Morris GA, Butler BW, Latham DJ, (1998), Rate of spread of free-burning fires in woody fuels in a wind tunnel. Comb. Sci. Tech. 131, 1-37.
  12. Cheney NP, Gould JS, Catchpole WR, (1998), Prediction of fire spread in grasslands. Int. J. Wildland Fire 8, 1-13.
  13. Marsden-Smedley JB, Catchpole WR, (1995), Fire behaviour modelling in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands. II. Fire behaviour. Int. J. Wildland Fire 5, 215-228.
  14. Marsden-Smedley JB, Catchpole WR, (1995), Fire behaviour modelling in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands. I. Fuel characteristics. Int. J. Wildland Fire 5, 203-214.
  15. Cheney NP, Gould JS, Catchpole WR, (1993), The influence of fuel, weather and fireshape variables on firespread in grasslands. Int. J. Wildland Fire 3, 31-44.
  16. Catchpole EA, Catchpole WR, Rothermel RC, (1993), Fire behaviour in mixed fuel complexes. Int. J. Wildland Fire 3, 45-57.
  17. Catchpole WR, Catchpole EA, (1993), Estimating biomass using stratified double sampling. Biometrics49, 295-304.
  18. Telford RD, Bunney CJ, Catchpole EA, Catchpole WR, Deakin V, Gray B, Hahn AG, Kerr D, (1992), Plasma ferritin concentration and physical work capacity in athletes. Int. J. Sports Nutrition 2, 335-342.
  19. Catchpole WR, Wheeler CJ, (1992), Estimating biomass: a review of techniques. Austr. J. Ecol. 17, 121-131.
  20. Catchpole EA, Catchpole WR, (1991), Modelling moisture damping for fire spread in a mixture of live and dead fuels. Int. J. Wildland Fire 1, 103-108.
  21. Catchpole WR, Catchpole EA, (1991), Estimating biomass in a vegetation mosaic. Australian J. Stats 33, 279-290.
  22. Catchpole EA, Hatton TJ, Catchpole WR, (1989), Fire spread through nonhomogeneous fuel modelled as a Markov process. Ecol. Modelling 48, 101-112.