Irvine, Calif., Sept. 25, 2023 — Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there’s a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite.
Wildfires in Hawaii have devastated the island of Maui. Canada continues to experience its worst ever wildfire season, with more than 1,000 active fires. Brian Lattimer, Director of Virginia Tech’s Extreme Environments and Materials Lab, explains what the Maui and Canadian wildfires have in common.
The discovery that birds evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic was made possible by recently discovered fossils of theropods such as Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors. In a way, you could say that dinosaurs are still with us and seen tweeting from your own backyard! Below are the latest research headlines in the Birds channel on Newswise.
Earth’s rapidly changing climate is taking an increasingly heavy toll on landscapes around the world in the form of floods, rising sea levels, extreme weather, drought and wildfire. Also at growing risk are the values of the property where these hazards are projected to worsen, according to a new study by University of Utah scholars. The research team, led by biology professor William Anderegg, attempted, for the first time, to quantify the value of U.S. property at risk in forested areas exposed to increased wildfire and tree mortality associated with climate stresses and beetle infestation.
Hundreds of people are still missing and rubble scorched ground is all that is left after wildfires decimated parts of Maui. Lahaina is facing years of rebuilding, as very little is left of the tourist town. Liesel Ritchie is a disaster resilience expert and associate director of the Center for Coastal Studies at Virginia Tech.
In the picturesque paradise of Maui, an ominous pattern of destruction has been unfolding. Devastating wildfires, once considered a rarity on the Hawaiian island, have become increasingly frequent and ferocious. As flames consume vast swaths of land this week, scientists and residents are grappling with the stark realization that these infernos are largely of our own making.
Extreme weather events have dominated the news this summer, with reports on extensive wildfires in Canada; dangerous flooding in India, Japan, and the Eastern US; severe heat waves in Spain, China, the United States, and Mexico; and the hottest day ever recorded on Earth.
A $5 million grant from the Office of the Governor is funding the Arizona Wildfire Initiative (AZWI), an innovative new program at NAU aimed at ensuring the state of Arizona is better prepared for wildfire prevention, management and recovery.
Wildfires are causing a much greater warming effect than previously accounted. A new study focused on the role of “dark brown carbon” — an abundant but previously unknown class of particles emitted as part of wildfire smoke — highlights an urgent need to revise climate models and update approaches for the changing environment.
Wildfires are an ancient force shaping the environment, but they have grown in frequency, range and intensity in response to a changing climate. At the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists are working on several fronts to better understand and predict these events and what they mean for the carbon cycle and biodiversity.
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center research findings and other news. Reporting on wildfire smoke? Fred Hutch clinicians and researchers are available to their expertise. Dr. Trang VoPham is an epidemiologist focusing on environmental exposures and risk, follow her on social media.
Wildfires have shaped the environment for millennia, but they are increasing in frequency, range and intensity in response to a hotter climate. The phenomenon is being incorporated into high-resolution simulations of the Earth’s climate by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with a mission to better understand and predict environmental change.
Cancer centers are uniquely positioned to protect cancer patients from climate-driven disasters, but researchers identified significant shortcomings in emergency preparedness when it came to climate-related disasters.
During the summer of 2018, the Mendocino Complex Fire ripped through UC’s Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC), transforming the Northern California property’s grassy, oak-dotted hillsides into a smoldering, ash-covered wasteland.
Hazy, hazardous conditions from climate change-driven Canadian wildfires have prompted researchers to examine the physicochemical and toxicological properties.
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Steven Allison, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Earth System Science, is using EMSL capabilities to uncover mysteries from the Earth beneath our feet. Allison explains how his research could help us understand severe events, like wildfire patterns, and how they affect soil microbiomes.
The unequal distribution of wildfire risk in our society is influenced by various factors, such as social vulnerabilities and intersecting forms of inequality, including gender, age, ethnicity, or disability. A new article calls for more integrated and inclusive wildfire risk management approaches and proposes a novel framework mapping different justice aspects.
Wildfire smoke threatens human health and welfare, especially if humans are exposed to smoke for long periods or while exercising – such as during a hiking trip to one of America’s beloved national parks.
A study analyzing wildfire smoke exposure across the continental U.S. from 2007-2019 found that increases in smoke exposure cause significant decreases in earnings and employment outcomes for U.S. workers across a wide variety of sectors, including manufacturing, crops production, and transportation.
Smoke from forest fires in Canada cast a pall over St. Louis this month as well as other parts of the Midwest and the East Coast. New radar remote sensing technology can help reduce the amount of time it takes to produce a useful map of burned areas, helping emergency managers to respond to the threat of flash flooding after fires.
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.
An international team led by research scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that clean energy microgrids offer a better and cheaper solution for protecting California communities from wildfire-related outages, compared to conventional microgrids.
As we enter the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere and the possibility of extreme heat becomes more common, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the science of heat waves and take measures to protect ourselves from this growing public health threat.
Experts from Indiana University are available to comment on trending topics in this week's news, including the impact of Canadian wildfires on U.S. air quality, protecting against summertime mosquitos and ticks, and the history and significance of Juneteenth.
In the quarter century between 1996 and 2020, wildfires in California consumed five times more area than they did from 1971 to 1995. Researchers at the University of California and other international institutions have concluded that nearly all of the increase in scorched terrain can be blamed on human-caused climate change.
A new study by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators shows that nearly all the recent increase in summer wildfire burned area in California is attributable to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change. Anthropogenic simulations yielded burn areas an average of 172% higher than natural variation simulations.