Landscape Dynamics

NetMap's virtual watersheds and analysis tools do not directly address the dynamics of landscapes (e.g., wildfires, floods, post-fire erosion, landslides and debris flows) in terms of year to year, decade to decade or century to century variability in the supply and storage of sediment and organic material, and the temporal variability in aquatic habitats.

To illustrate the naturally dynamic behavior of watersheds due to wildfires, storms and floods, TerrainWorks presents a series of computer simulation movies that illustrate a watershed during periods of low and high levels of natural disturbance.

In addition, the simulation movies illustrate the naturally dynamic behavior of sediment transport as "waves", the temporal variability of wood recruitment and the temporally dynamic nature of aquatic habitats.

Citation: Miller, D., L. Benda, M. Furniss, and M. Penney. 2002. Landscape Dynamics and Forest Management. U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-101-CD]. See Credits.

Movie: Introduction to Landscape Dynamics (10 minutes)

Movie 1: Periods of Low Disturbance (18 minutes)

Movie 2: Periods of High Disturbance (20 minutes)

Movie 3: The Pulsating River Network (11 minutes)

Movie 4: The Dynamic World of Habitat Formation (12 minutes)

Movie 5: Landscape Dynamics and Resource Management (18 minutes)

Computer based simulation movies are based on general principles of stochastic modeling related to wildfires, landslides, debris flows, sediment supply, sediment routing and storage, wood recruitment and formation of aquatic habitats. Relevant publications in support of simulation and movie development are found in Reports/Pubs and more generally here. 

Additional Background Information (2002, somewhat outdated compared to current TerrainWorks/NetMap Programs and Tools):
DEM_programs.pdf
Fire_Model.pdf
Fire_model_results.pdf
General Landscape Theory.pdf
Landscape_Controls.pdf
Landslide_Model.pdf

Many of NetMap's tools and attributes do address watershed processes related to landscape dynamics, including wildfires, flood surfaces, post-fire erosion, landslides and debris flows. See All Tools.