Breaking News: Wildfires

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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 Americans’ homes and livelihoods. Many of those at risk are lower-income Americans who face canceled homeowners insurance policies and rising premiums, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

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Sage, a new sensing and computing platform based on Argonne’s Waggle technology, has been deployed at a controlled burn site in Kansas.

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New research refining the amount of sunlight absorbed by black carbon in smoke from wildfires will help clear up a long-time weak spot in earth system models, enabling more accurate forecasting of global climate change.

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Scientists investigating the growth of arctic vegetation have found that seed dispersal and fire will slow its land expansion in the long term, despite more favorable conditions from a warming planet.

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The latest research news in Climate Science on Newswise.

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The State of California is banking on its forests to help reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But that element of the state’s climate-change solution arsenal may be in jeopardy, as new research from the University of California, Irvine reports that trees in California’s mountain ranges and open spaces are dying from wildfires and other pressures – and fewer new trees are filling the void.

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Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) and the Swedish Museum of Natural History examined the end-Permian mass extinction (252 million years ago) that eliminated almost every species on Earth, with entire ecosystems collapsing.

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Homeowners across the United States are not only experiencing higher mortgage rates and property costs, they’re also at risk of damage from an increasing number of disasters linked to natural hazards, including wildfires.

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Increasing frequency and size of wildfires in the United States over the past several decades affect everything from human life and health to air quality, biodiversity, and land use.

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Thanks 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.

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The top ten per cent most valuable homes in the western United States are 70% more likely to be in high wildfire hazard areas than median-value properties, measured by county, according to a new study published today in Environmental Research Letters.

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By: Bill Wellock | Published: May 23, 2022 | 4:38 pm | SHARE: Prescribed burns are an important tool for limiting the harmful effects of wildfires, but they require planning and proper conditions.The U.S. Forest Service recently announced a pause in the use of prescribed fire on National Forest System lands while the agency conducts a review of protocols and practices.

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University of Oregon researchers seek to understand public tolerance for poor air quality and preferred methods for receiving event updates

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Irvine, Calif., May 16, 2022 – Prescribed burning of ground-level shrubs, branches and leaves is a time-tested tool to help prevent wildland fires from getting out of control, but a team led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine suggests that the practice isn’t used frequently enough. For a paper published recently in the journal Science of The Total Environment, the scientists conducted an in-depth assessment of meteorological and vegetation data spanning 35 years, finding several additional periods during winter and spring in which wind, temperature and humidity levels would allow safe and effective human-set blazes.

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As fierce wildfires spread through New Mexico, burning hundreds of structures and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate, Sandia National Laboratories found a way for the workforce to help.

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New research modeling smoke from two recent megafires sets the stage for better forecasting of how emissions from these global-scale events will behave and impact temperatures. As huge wildfires become more common under climate change, increased attention has focused on the intensity and duration of their emissions, which rival those of some volcano eruptions.

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Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

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A new study from McGill University finds higher incidence of lung cancer and brain tumors in people exposed to wildfires.

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Climate change and decades of fire suppression that have increased fuels are contributing to larger and more intense wildfires and, in order to improve forest health and reduce these explosive fires, prescribed and managed fire is necessary.

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A new study offers pathways to improve monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of climate-informed conservation while revealing how practitioners are currently monitoring conservation adaptation projects.

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When you live in the driest State in the driest country in the world, bushfires are an unfortunate, and all-too-regular part of life. Learning how to survive such emergencies is important for all people, but especially for our youngest citizens

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New UC Riverside research shows fungi and bacteria able to survive redwood tanoak forest megafires are microbial “cousins” that often increase in abundance after feeling the flames.

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Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Geological Survey have entered a partnership to produce advanced computer models to predict the behavior of wildfires and prescribed fires. Models will help fire, land and emergency managers plan for, respond to and study the effects of fire on natural landscapes and in the wildland-urban interface.

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Increasingly large and intense wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are altering the seasonal pattern of air pollution and causing a spike in unhealthy pollutants in August, new research finds.

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An assistant biology professor at the University of Oregon has high hopes that a pilot study could change how forestlands in the Northwest are managed, particularly post-harvest and post-fire, to the benefit of the humble, and troubled, wild bee.

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A critical project to help with the early detection and monitoring of wildfires in Oregon received $4.5 million in support from the state Legislature during the 2022 short session. University of Oregon Earth Sciences Professor Douglas Toomey is a key leader of the partnership behind the ALERTWildfire camera network system, which is being rolled out across Oregon, Nevada, California, Washington, and Idaho. Toomey directs the Oregon Hazards Lab (OHAZ) at the University of Oregon.

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New analysis confirms a palpable change in fire dynamics already suspected by many.

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Volatile compounds in wildfire smoke are absorbed by grapes and produce an unpleasant taste called “smoke taint” in wines. A new study provides valuable data and guidelines for using analytical chemistry to identify grapes and wines affected by smoke taint.

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Wildfires destroy and alter carbon in forests. The remaining carbon can be difficult for many organisms to consume. New research shows that one type of fungi thrives after wildfires because it has genes that allow it to feed on carbon altered by fires. The research helps to explain how carbon returns to the food web after a fire.

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Two Clemson University civil engineers said their newly published research is the most comprehensive analysis so far of what causes flash drought, a weather phenomenon that has been blamed for billions of dollars in crop damage and increased wildfire risk.

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The West sees destructive wildfires every year—yet it hadn’t seen anything like the Camp Fire. Three months after the most destructive wildfire in recent history, wildfire sociologist Catrin Edgeley went to the devastated town of Paradise to learn how residents and town leaders were recovering. Edgeley wanted to know how lessons learned in one disaster could be individualized and applied to other fires—lessons that are increasingly important in Arizona as climate change leads to longer, more severe fire seasons.

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Large wildfires and severe heat events are happening more often at the same time, worsening air pollution across the western United States, a study led by Washington State University researchers has found.

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PNNL researchers uncover the mechanics behind dwindling Arctic sea ice and its influence on wildfire weather in the western United States.

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Multiple large heatwaves the size of Mongolia occurred at the same time nearly every day during the warm seasons of the 2010s across the Northern Hemisphere, according to a study led by Washington State University researchers.

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Clearing California’s forests of dense overgrowth is a critical first step for curbing catastrophic wildfire in the state. But forest restoration

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A virtual reality exercise undertaken in Australia with people living in high fire-risk zones has revealed some harsh truths: most people are not prepared for a serious bushfire and many would make fatal errors that could cost them their life.

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Climate change is fueling more floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme storms across the United States. As a result, aging power grids are being pushed beyond their limits, sometimes with deadly impacts. (In 2020, a series of unusual winter storms knocked the power out in Texas for days -- leading to shortages of water and heat and more than 100 deaths.)

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Fire restrictions vary by state. In West Virginia, the fall fire season runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 while the spring fire season goes from March 1 to May 31.