Australia’s road to recovery may be long: Here’s a developing list of how the fires are affecting glaciers, wildlife, water supplies, and global carbon emissions.
wildfire
Posted inOpinions
Australia, Your Country Is Burning—Dangerous Climate Change Is Here With You Now
I am a climate scientist on holiday in the Blue Mountains, watching climate change in action.
Posted inScience Updates
Rating Fire Danger from the Ground Up
Soil moisture information could improve assessments of wildfire probabilities and fuel conditions, resulting in better fire danger ratings.
Posted inNews
Are Beavers Nature’s “Little Firefighters”?
It’s about dam time: Beavers are acknowledged for their firefighting skills in five recent blazes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Satellite Measurements of Stratospheric Forest Fire Smoke
Intense boreal forest fires in August 2017 caused smoke plumes that reached record levels in the stratosphere; satellite measurements show that the effects rivaled a moderate volcanic eruption.
Posted inNews
Iconic Palms Add to Fire Danger in Southern California
As fires burn across Southern California, researchers examine what role nonnative vegetation plays.
Posted inNews
Wildfire Smoke Traps Itself in Valleys
Simulations show how wildfire smoke increases atmospheric stability inside some valleys, creating a feedback loop that prevents its dispersion.
Posted inNews
Wildfires Affect Water Resources Long After the Smoke Clears
Wildfires affect watersheds in myriad ways, from reducing evapotranspiration to changing soil repellencies, but new research suggests impacts on snowpack and runoff are the most significant.
Posted inNews
What Wildfire Smoke Tells Us About Nuclear Winter
A cloud of smoke from 2017 Canadian wildfires was so huge that it self-lofted and stayed in the atmosphere for 8 months. Scientists used it as an example for climate simulations of nuclear warfare.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Restoring Natural Fire Regimes Can Yield More Water Downstream
Research in Yosemite National Park offers a new benchmark for understanding water balance changes in a mountainous basin 4 decades after its natural wildfire regime was reestablished.