{
  "abstract": "We introduce the Terrain-Weighted Forest Fire Model (TFFM), a lattice model in which fire spreads on a spatially correlated Gaussian height field with the asymmetric bond probability $p_{i\\to j}=\\mathrm{clip}[e^{-β+γ(h_j-h_i)},0,1]$, plus an additive wind bias. Simulations on lattices up to $L=8192$ reveal a sharp active-to-inactive transition whose critical suppression threshold $β_c$ is even in $γ$, decreases with $|γ|$, and decreases as the terrain correlation length $σ_h$ is reduced: slope asymmetry acts as a suppressant because downhill bonds are penalized and fire stalls at local elevation maxima. For rough terrain and low tree density the fire fails to percolate even at zero suppression. Finite-size scaling on a fine $β$ grid at $L=2048$--$8192$ gives a correlation-length exponent $ν=1.8\\pm0.17$ from both the susceptibility peak and the width of the transition, and a front-velocity exponent $δ=0.34\\pm0.03$, identical for smooth and rough terrain; neither matches directed percolation ($ν_\\perp=0.73$, $ν_\\parallel-ν_\\perp\\approx0.56$) or isotropic percolation ($ν=4/3$, $\\approx0.18$). The single-seed survival probability at $β_c$ is independent of $L$ and decays extremely slowly, with a running exponent falling from $\\approx0.09$ to $\\approx0.04$, excluding directed percolation and pointing to a survival probability that remains finite at criticality, consistent with the $L$-independent value $P^*\\approx0.5$ at which $P_{\\rm surv}$ drops to zero. Wind raises $β_c$ by a factor of $2$--$4$, produces a sharp onset of downwind fire-scar drift at weak coupling, and, at high terrain coupling, decreases the burned fraction at boundary crossing---a terrain-wind competition effect absent from isotropic bond-disorder models. The model yields fire-risk thresholds and fire-scar signatures comparable to satellite burn-scar data.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.07763",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Juan M. Florez"
    },
    {
      "name": "Eric Suárez Morell"
    },
    {
      "name": "Cristian Millan"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Restrepo"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ndvs6pkpnead.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.07763",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3ndvs6pkpnead",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07763",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.ao-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.geo-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3104|Theoretical and Computational Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212000368",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.07763",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-10",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ndvs6pkpnead.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
      "native_id": "2609.07763",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07763"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.ao-ph",
      "subfield": "atmospheric"
    },
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.geo-ph",
      "subfield": "geophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Topographic Disorder, Wind Coupling, and Directional Fire Spread: Critical Behavior in a Terrain-Weighted Forest Fire Model",
  "title_text": "Topographic Disorder, Wind Coupling, and Directional Fire Spread: Critical Behavior in a Terrain-Weighted Forest Fire Model",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ndvs6pkpnead",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}