Vita: Dr. Don J. Latham
Personal Data
1. B.A., Pomona College, Claremont, CA.1960. Physics.
2. M.S., New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, 1964, Earth Science.
3. Ph.D., New Mexico Tech., Socorro, New Mexico, 1968, Earth Science.
4. Additional study
1. Air-Sea Interaction, 3 hrs., Univ. of Miami. 1970. (audit)
2. Atmospheric Waves, 3 hrs., Univ. of Miami. 1972. (audit)
3. History of Systems with lab., 6 credits, Univ. of Montana. 1980.
4. Seminar in Scientific Thought, 2 credits, Univ. of Montana. 1979.
5. Organizational Psychology, 3 credits, Univ. of Montana. 1986.
6. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, 3 credits, Univ. of Montana. 1985.
7. Applied A/I, Expert Systems, 3 credits, Univ. of Montana. 1985.
8. Artificial Intelligence Workshop, OCATE (Oregon Center for Advanced Technology Education), November 1986.
9. 30 quarter-hours of graduate-level psychology 1980-1988
10. National Wildfire Investigator Training, conducted by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, May, 2001
Professional Experience
Civic experience:
Society
and Committee Participation:
Membership in professional societies:
Offices, Committees, editing, etc.:
Honors
and Awards:
Presentations:
(Note that presentations are peer reviewed and accepted for presentation)
1. Invited papers before scientific societies:
1. "Artificial intelligence and expert systems in fire," Wildland Fire 2000, Tahoe, CA. 1987
2. Moderator/session keynoter, Forestry Expert Systems, Forest Resources Systems Institute, Syracuse, NY, 1987
3. Keynote speaker, 10th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Ottawa, Ont., Canada. April, 1989
4. Keynote speaker and moderator, session on Artificial Intelligence, Ontario Division of Natural Resources, Ottawa, Ont. Canada, Sept. 1989
5. Chair, speaker, and Moderator, Artificial Intelligence section, IUFRO 100th anniversary meeting, Berlin, Sept.1992.
6.
More than 40 offered papers before scientific societies
on topics such as: atmospheric electricity, lightning, wildfire ignition, fire
season severity, artificial intelligence, 1965-2002.
2.
Offered papers before scientific societies:
Invited presentations to management and non-scientific groups:
Consulting, workshops, etc.:
Other Expertise:
Engineering:
Design and construction of the following scientific equipment:
1. 3 cm radar, 1.2 kW peak pulse, 6 ft dish, fully steerable in altitude and azimuth.
2. Microphone system for thunder studies (Masters thesis)
3. Vertical wind tunnel for the suspension of water drops (PhD thesis)
4. 10 GHz system for backscatter from water drops (PhD thesis)
5. apparatus for determining fall characteristics of radar chaff
6. development of the noise radar for cloud investigtation (later patented by my advisor-thats grad studentry)
7. Numerous devices for the investigation of lightning characteristics, including broadband magnetic field measurements (forerunner of the lightning detection system), and optical sensors including PM tubes and optical filters.
8. Complete system for simulation of lightning continuing current (scr pulser, 42 ea. 12 volt truck batteries in series)
9. Charge sensing system for wind tunnel fire charge investigation.
10. Receiving system for amateur radio astronomy, 16 ft dish, alt-ax mount, 1420 MHz, computer driven. Software and hardware construction
11. Electric field mill design for forest fire investigation.
12. Large wind tunnel HVAC, water vapor injection, and instrumentation.
Computer modeling:
1. One dimensional model of the lightning continuing current (published, see below) used to understand expansion of hot air column of the continuing current and ac arcs and its temperature structure.
2. One-dimensional vertical air column model to simulate smoke columns and cumulus clouds. Includes full water balance parameterization and vertical motions due to buoyancy. Institutionalized as PLUMP (see below)
3. Expert system for crown fires
4. Charge generation and transport in one and two dimensions- electrode effect and boundary layer over the ocean.
Investigations:
1. Participant in Serious Accident Report, North Stansbury Fire, Aug. 23, 2000. This investigation of two firefighter deaths by lightning led to my rewrite of the lightning safety section of the Fireline Handbook. Also conducted Q/A session for local firefighters at the time of the investigation.
2. Participant in investigation of the destruction of a house and death of two occupants by a lightning-caused explosion, Summerland, BC, Canada, July, 2002, conducted Q/A session for other investigators and, separately, for the victims family. Report submitted.
Expert Witness Reports, Consultations, Depositions and
Court Appearances:
1. Deposition 1/21/1993 In the matter of MacLeod, et.al. vs. United States of America, California, No. CV 91-3652-WJR(Tx)
2. Expert witness for the State of California vs. PG&E; Campbell Complex fire, California,August, 1990. Case settled before deposition or court. A report to the state was issued.
3. Consultant to USFS Law Enforcement, Ear Mountain fire, Montana, 2000
4. Expert witness for plaintiff, Civ. no. 03-5020, Grizzly Gulch fire, settled for plaintiff, Aug. 11, 2006
5. Consultant to Montana State DNRC, cause & origin, Black Ratt fire, Montana, August, 2007
Publications:
1)
Latham, D. J., A. J. Dessler, A. A. Few, and
M. Brook, A dominant 200 HZ peak in the acoustic spectrum of thunder, J. Geo. Res., Vol. 72, p. 6149
1967.
2)
Latham, D. J. and M. Brook, Fluctuating
radar echo: Modulation by Vibrating Drops, J. Geo. Res., Vol. 73, p. 7137-7144. 1968.
3)
Latham, D. J., High-impedance guarded
voltmeter, Rev. Sci. Inst., Vol. 42, p. 535-536.1971.
4)
Latham, D. J. and H. Poor,Comment on: Determination of Eddy Diffusion
Coefficients from Atmospheric
Electrical Measurements by W. A. Hoppel and S. G. Gathman, J. Geo. Res., Vol. 76, p. 5140-5141, 1971.
5)
Latham, D. J., "Diurnal frequency
variation and refraction
index," Nature Physical Science, Vol. 234, No. 51, p. 157-158, December 20, 1971.
6)
Latham, D. J. and H. Poor., "A
time-dependent model of
the electrode effect," J. Geo. Res., Vol. 77, No. 15, p. 2669-2675, 1972.
7)
Latham, D. J. and R. W. Miksad.,
"Electric field perturbations
of the marine atmosphere by horizontal roll vortices," J. Geo. Res., Vol. 79, No. 36, p. 5592-5597, 1974.
8)
Latham, D. J., Atmospheric electrical
effects of and on
tethered balloon systems. Final report, Contract F08606-73-C-0039, ARPA Order No. 2176,
March 14, 1974.
9)
Latham, D., Notes on Atmospheric
Electricity and Lightning Pertinent to Tethered Parafoil use at Sea, Appendix C,
NOSC Technical Note 407, K.Powers, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA,
15 May 1978.
10) D. Fuquay, R. Baughman, and D. Latham., "A model for predicting lightning fire ignition in wildland fuels.", USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-217, April 1979
11) Latham, D. J., "Progress toward locating lightning fires.", USDA Forest Service Research Note INT-269, December 1979.
12) Latham, D. J., "Simple noise level digitizer.", Review of Scientific Instruments, V. 51, No. 1, January 1980.
13) Latham, D. J., "A fire season severity predictor" Proceedings, Sixth Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Seattle, WA. Apr. 22-24, 1980.
14) Latham, D. J., "A channel model for long arcs in air", Physics of Fluids, Vol. 23, No. 8, August 1980.
15) F. A. Albini, D. J. Latham, and R. G. Baughman., "Estimating upslope windspeeds for predicting wildland fire behavior", USDA Forest Service Research Paper INT-257, 19 p., 1982.
16) Latham, D. J., "A lightning-locating and fire-forecasting system." USDA For. Serv. Research Paper INT-315, July 1983.
17) Andrews, Patricia L. and D. J. Latham., "BEHAVE: A knowledge-based expert system for predicting wildland fire behavior.", Proceedings, Summer Computer Simulation Conference, Vol. 2, July 23-25, 1984, Boston, MA: La Jolla, CA: Soc. for Computer Simulation, 1984: 1213-1218
18) Latham, D. J.,"A numerical simulation of the lightning continuing current channel.", Proceedings, VII International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, American Meteorological Society, Albany, NY. June 1984.
19) Latham, D. J., "Anode column behavior of long vertical air arcs at atmospheric pressure.", IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. PS-14, No. 3, June 1986, p. 220-227. 1987.
20) Latham, Don J., "Design and construction of an electric arc generator for fuel ignition studies.", USDA For. Serv. Research Note INT-366, 15 p., 1987.
21) Latham, Don J. "Analog method of forecasting." Proceedings, 9th Conf. on Fire and Forest Meteorology, April 21-24, 1987, San Diego, CA.
22) Latham, Don J., "Artificial intelligence applications to fire.", Proceedings, Symposium on Wildland Fire 2000, April 21-24, 1987, South Lake Tahoe, CA.
23) Latham, Don J, "An Examination of Fire Season Severity Rating", Fire Management Notes, V.48,No.2, pp9-11
24) Latham, Don J., "VP-Expert: A Review" AI Applications in Natural Resource Management", V.2 No.1 pp 60-61, 1987
25) Latham, Don J, "Artificial Intelligence Applications to Fire", Fire Management Notes, V.49, No.2, pp.3-5, 1988.
26) Latham, Don J., "Discharge Characteristics of Long Vertical DC Arcs", Research Paper INT-407, Intermountain Research Station, July 1989.
27) Latham, Don J. and Schleiter, Joyce A. "Ignition Probabilities of Wildland Fuels Based on Simulated Lightning Discharges" Research Paper INT-411, Intermountain Research Station, September, 1989.
28) H.J. Melosh, N.M. Schneider, K.J. Zahnle, & D. Latham. "Ignition of Global Wildfires at the Cretacious/Tertiary Boundary" Nature, V.343, pp251-264. 1989.
29) R.A. Susott, D.E. Ward, R.E. Babbitt, D.J. Latham, L.G. Weger, and P.M. Boyd, Fire Dynamics and Chemistry of Large Fires, Final Report, 6 March 1990, Defense Nuclear Agency IACRO 89-903 (INT-89409-IA), 1990.
30) Latham, Don J. "Lightning from a prescribed Burn", Proceedings, 11th conference on Fire and forest meteorology, Missoula, MT April, 1991.
31) Latham, D. (1991). A Simple One-Dimensional Plume Model. 11th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Missoula, MT, SAF.
32) Latham, Don J. "Lightning Flashes From a Prescribed Fire-induced Cloud", Journal of Geophysical Research, V.96,pp.17,151-17,157, 1991.
33) Susott, R.A., D. Ward, R. Babbitt, and D. Latham. "The Measurement of Trace Emissions and Combustion Characteristics for a Mass Fire", in Global Biomass Burning, J. Levine, Ed. MIT Press, 1991. pp 245-257.
34) Latham, Don J. and Anderson, H. "Fire Behavior in the Wildland/Urban Interface: The American Experience" in: Fire in the Wildland/Urban Interface, Proceedings of the US-Australian Workshop. US Man and Biosphere Program. 1992.
35) Latham, D.J. and R. C. Rothermel, "Probability of Fire-Stopping Precipitation Events" Research Note INT-410, Intermountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Feb.1993.
36) Latham, D., Weather Data Requirements for Behavior Based Fire Danger Rating Systems., 12th International Conference of Fire and Forest Meteorology, Jekyll Island, Georgia, SAF, 1993
37) Latham, D.J., PLUMP: A one-dimensional plume predictor and cloud model for fire and smoke managers., General Technical Report INT-GTR-314 , Intermountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Nov, 1994
38) Latham, D. and R. Nelson, Comparison of 10-hour Fuel Moisture Sticks., Fire Management Under Fire (Adapting to Change): Proceedings of the 1994 Interior West Fire Council Meeting and Program, Coeur d'Alene, ID, International Association of Wildland Fire, 1994
39) Latham, D. J., PLUMP: A plume predictor and cloud model for fire managers., Research Paper, Intermountain Research Station, USDA - Forest Service, Ogden, UT, 1994
40) Vonnegut, B., D.J. Latham, C.B. Moore, and S.J. Hunyadi., An explanation for anomalous lightning from forest fire clouds., Journal of Geophysical Research, V.100, pp5037-5050, 1995.
41) Latham, D.J., and T. Beer., Australian-American Match Tests., USDA Forest Service Research Note INT-RN-426, Intermountain Research Station, USDA, March 1995.
42) Latham, D. J., Roots of Artificial Intelligence., Appendix A, pp335-347, in: Building Knowledge-Based Systems for Natural Resource Management, D.L. Schmoldt and H.M. Rauscher, Chapman and Hall, New York, NY, 1996..
43) Catchpole, W. R. et al. (1998). Rate of Spread of Free-Burning Fires in Woody Fuels in a Wind Tunnel, Combustion Science and Technology
44) Latham, D.J., High speed photography of fires., Second Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology, American Meteorological Society, 11-16 Jan, 1998, Phoenix, AZ.
45) Hoadley, J. and D.J. Latham, Toward an Objective Approach to Forecasting Lightning Activity., In: Second Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology, 11-16 Jan 1998, Phoenix AZ. AMS, pp24-26. 1998.
46) Latham, D.J., Near infrared spectral lines in natural fires., III International Conference on Forest Fire Research, 14th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, V.1, pp 513-515, Luso, Portugal, 16-20 Nov, 1998.
47) Latham, D.J., and E. Williams, Lightning and Forest Fires., Ch 11 pp 375-418, in Forest Fires: Behavior and Ecological Effects, E.A. Johnson and K. Miyanishi, eds, Academic Press, New York, NY, 2001.
48) Vodacek, A., Kremens, R.L., Fordham, A.J., VanGorden, S.C., Luisi, D., Schott, J.R., and Latham, D.J., Remote optical detection of biomass burning using a potassium emission signature., Int. J. Remote Sensing, 23, 2721-2726.,2002
49) Clark T. L., M. Griffiths, M. J. Reeder, D. Latham, Numerical simulations of grassland fires in the Northern Territory, Australia: A new subgrid-scale fire parameterization, J. Geophys. Res., 108 (D18), 4589, doi:10.1029/2002JD003340, 2003.
50) Butler, B.W., J. Cohen, D.J. Latham, R.D. Schuette, P. Sopko, K.S. Shannon, D. Jiminez, and L. S. Bradshaw, Measurement of radiant emissive power and temperatures in crown fires., Canadian Journal of Forest Research, V.34, pp 1577-1587, 2004.
51) Clark, T.L., J. Coen, and D. Latham, Description of a coupled atmosphere-fire model, Int. Journ. Of Wildland Fire, V13, pp49-63,2004.
52) Freitas,
S.R., et al, Including the sub-grid scale plume rise of vegetation fires in low
resolution atmospheric transport models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, pp 3385-3398,
2007
53) Frankman,
D, B.W. Webb, B.W. Butler, and D. Latham, Fine Fuel Heating by Radiant Flux,
Combustion Science and Technology, 182, 215-230, 2010
54) Freitas, S.R., et al, Smoke plume rise in a windy environment, ACPD 9, 14713-14733, 2009