Major study highlights five critical challenges — ScienceDaily
As wildfires cause increasing devastation worldwide, dozens of fire experts across the nation are joining together in calling for a more strategic and interdisciplinary approach to pursuing wildfire research and protecting vulnerable communities. A new study, led by a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and co-authored by 86 other fire experts […]
Dry lightning sparks some of the most destructive and costly wildfires in California — ScienceDaily
A new study has found dry lightning outbreaks are the leading cause of some of the largest wildfire outbreaks in modern California history. Despite this, dry lightning has remained largely understudied across this region — until now. Researchers from the School of the Environment at Washington State University, Vancouver, have developed the first long-term climatology […]
Markers for inflammation, cardiac regulation — ScienceDaily
New research linking air pollution data from federal monitors in the Sacramento area of California, including during significant fires, is showing ill effects of pollution exposure among children, a new University of California, Davis, study suggests. Blood samples show that children have elevated markers of inflammation, such as interleukin 6, if they were exposed to […]
Study finds lower-income homeowners are at higher risk of wildfire, canceled homeowners insurance — ScienceDaily
With fires raging from California to Alaska, the 2022 wildfire season is off to a violent start. It’s an ominous sign of what promises to be another record-breaking fire season in the U.S. Roughly 2 million acres burned last month. And major fires are currently scorching Idaho, Utah and California, threatening tens of thousands of […]
Smoke from Western wildfires can influence Arctic sea ice — ScienceDaily
Sea ice and wildfires may be more interconnected than previously thought, according to new research out today in Science Advances. By digging into differences between climate models, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that soot and other burned biomass from wildfires here in Colorado and […]
Western US wildfire smoke plumes are getting taller — ScienceDaily
In recent years the plumes of smoke crawling upward from Western wildfires have trended taller, with more smoke and aerosols lofted up where they can spread farther and impact air quality over a wider area. The likely cause is climate change, with decreased precipitation and increased aridity in the Western U.S. that intensifies wildfire activity. […]
Simulations could become an early warning system for people living in high-risk areas — ScienceDaily
A wildfire followed by an intense rainstorm is often a recipe for disaster. Without vegetation to cushion rainfall, water runoff can turn into a fast-moving, highly destructive landslide, called a “debris flow,” which often has the power to wipe out cars, homes and highways — sometimes resulting in casualties. Northwestern University researchers have augmented a […]
New methodology helps predict soil recovery after wildfires — ScienceDaily
Soils influence water quality, and they are critical to plant growth. However, it has been difficult to predict how plant growth and water quality would change in the wake of wildfires. Now, a team of Colorado investigators has devised new methodology to enable such predictions. The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a […]
New technique substantially improved simulations of Colorado’s East Troublesome Fire — ScienceDaily
A new technique developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) uses artificial intelligence to efficiently update the vegetation maps that are relied on by wildfire computer models to accurately predict fire behavior and spread. In a recent study, scientists demonstrated the method using the 2020 East Troublesome Fire in Colorado, which burned through […]
How ‘green islands’ help forests regenerate after fire — ScienceDaily
Due to climate change, high-elevation forests in the Central Cascade mountains of the Pacific Northwest are burning more frequently and expansively than in the recent past, prompting researchers and fire managers to question whether forests will be able to recover from these emerging fire patterns and whether they will require human assistance to do so. […]