The carbonaceous particles rising high into the air in the context of wildfires significantly degrade air quality, damage human and wildlife health, and interact with sunlight to affect climate. But measurements taken during the 2011 Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory show that the actual carbon-containing particles emitted by fires are very different than those used in current computer models, providing the potential for inaccuracy in current climate-modeling results, as Science Daily reported.
A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted wild land fire (including unauthorized human-caused fires). Vegetation fires are caused by slash/burn land clearing, clearing of plantations following logging operations, and by natural events such as lightning or extreme drought. The dry seasons provide peak conditions for wildfires to occur, and it is during this time that they are most prevalent and present a transboundary problem when prevailing winds disperse the smoke across borders to other countries.