Forest fire propagation modeling has typically been included within the category of grand challenging problems due to its complexity and to the range of disciplines that it involves. The high degree of uncertainty in the input parameters required by the fire models/simulators can be approached by applying optimization techniques, which, typically involve a large number of simulation executions, all of which usually require considerable time. Distributed computing systems (or metacomputers) suggest themselves as a perfect platform to addressing this problem. We focus on the tuning process for the ISStest fire simulator input parameters on a distributed computer environment managed by Condor.
This work has been supported by MCyT-Spain under contract TIC2001-2592, by the EU under contract EVG1-CT-2001-00043 and partially supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya-Grup de Recerca Consolidat 2001SGR-00218. This research is made in the frame of the EU Project SPREAD - Forest Fire Spread Prevention and Mitigation.