A PROGNOSTIC METEOROLOGICAL MODEL APPLIED TO THE STUDY OF A FOREST-FIRE

The mesoscale meteorological model MEMO was applied to a real fire sit uation, which occurred in the central area of Portugal, with a very co mplex topography. In order to numerically provide boundary values at a higher temporal and spatial resolution, a one-way nesting technique w as used, and three nested domains, of resolutions 5x5 km(2), 2x2 km(2) and 1x1 km(2), were studied. This paper includes a comparison of the model results with the-available data and a description of the calcula ted wind fields for the three grids. The comparison indicates that the model describes adequately the meteorological situation during the si mulated period of the fire and the comparison between the different gr id results enhanced the importance of using refined simulations to dep ict the characteristics of the flow field in an area of such complexit y.