As the climate warms, increasing amounts of Sierra Nevada precipitation will turn from snow to rain, effectively lengthening and intensifying the fire season. Our data, which demonstrates the relationships among snowpack, soil properties, and wildfires, may improve predictive risk assessments.
Originally Published Environment Research Web – Wildfires and insect outbreaks have wiped out millions of hectares of forest in western North America in recent years. In particular, the mountain pine beetle has destroyed vast areas of lodgepole pine forest, including more than 16 million hectares in British Columbia alone. But what kind of impact does this have on the carbon cycle?
Climate change is contributing to larger wildfires and a longer fire season, making the need for near-real time and ultra-precise maps of fires more critical than ever. A team at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), in Boise, Idaho, (USA), is responding to that demand with new and better mapping technologies.
Data products and tools from the LANDFIRE Program help decision-makers clarify problems and identify possible solutions when managing fires and natural resources. The Program – a joint effort between the U.S .Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management, and The Nature Conservancy – provides the only complete geospatial dataset describing vegetation and wildland fuel information for the entire U.S.
The National Observatory of Athens (NOA) in Greece offers operational Earth Observation services for disaster management of forest wildfire. Dedicated systems offer stakeholders online access to robust, accurate and fully operational Web-based tools to assist their Emergency Response and Emergency Support actions.
Originally Published by Environment Research Web — The Harvard team’s study suggests wildfire seasons by 2050 will be about three weeks longer, up to twice as smoky, and will burn a wider area in the western states. The findings are based on a set of internationally recognized climate scenarios, decades of historical meteorological data, and records of past fire activity.
