Wildfires can destroy homes, businesses, communities, infrastructure, and most importantly, lives. Researchers at CIRI are working on models to not only track wildfires, but also predict where they could spread to next.
Tag: Fires
New Technique Maps Large-scale Impacts of Fire-induced Permafrost Thaw in Alaska
For the first time, researchers have developed a machine learning-based ensemble approach to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement across the entire Tanana Flats in Alaska, which encompasses more than 3 million acres. They linked airborne repeat lidar data to time-series Landsat products (satellite images) to delineate thaw settlement patterns across six large fires that have occurred since 2000. The six fires resulted in a loss of nearly 99,000 acres of evergreen forest from 2000 to 2014 among nearly 155,000 acres of fire-influenced forests with varying degrees of burn severity. This novel approach helped to explain about 65 percent of the variance in lidar-detected elevation change.
International recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of new-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE)
First-line immunotherapy and the ketogenic diet are two main recommendations for treatment of NORSE of unknown cause, according to results from an international consensus group. Dr. Maryam Nabavi Nouri interviews first author Dr. Ronny Wickstrom.
Validation brings new predictive capability to global megafire smoke impacts
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.
Prescribed burns and other low-intensity fires are highly responsive to changes in winds
Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and partners have used modeling to highlight the large impact that small changes in wind conditions can have on low-intensity fires or prescribed burns.
The ketogenic diet for super-refractory status epilepticus
The ketogenic diet is emerging as a potential treatment option for all stages of status epilepticus, a condition in which seizures persist for more than several minutes.
Nuclear War Could Trigger Big El Niño and Decrease Seafood
A nuclear war could trigger an unprecedented El Niño-like warming episode in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, slashing algal populations by 40 percent and likely lowering the fish catch, according to a Rutgers-led study. The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that turning to the oceans for food if land-based farming fails after a nuclear war is unlikely to be a successful strategy – at least in the equatorial Pacific.
Rutgers Legal Expert Available to Discuss Environmental, Climate Change Priorities
New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 21, 2021) – Rutgers University Professor Cymie R. Payne, an expert on United States and international environmental laws, is available for interviews on how the administration of President Biden can strengthen laws and regulations and efforts to…
UCLA pulmonary expert to speak on air quality and wildfires
Dr. Reza Ronaghi, a pulmonologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, explains how wildfires affect air quality and what precautions people can take to limit exposure to smoke and other fire-generated toxins in the air. How do you…
Study synthesizes what climate change means for Northwest wildfires
Researchers synthesize how climate change will affect the risk of wildfires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana. The study also suggests how managers and individual landowners in different ecosystems can best prepare.
Rising from the ashes: volunteers and good science will be vital to bush recovery after catastrophic fires
University of South Australia ecologist Joan Gibbs describes the day that fires tore through her property in the Adelaide Hills, leaving a trail of devastation. One month on, there are signs of recovery.
Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Australian Climate and Wildfires
New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 7, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick climatologist David A. Robinson is available for interviews on weather and climate conditions that have contributed to catastrophic wildfires in Australia. “The remarkable wildfire outbreak in Australia is a result of persistent drought…