Research Article On Fires And Climate Change

There are also so many animals that go along with the damage from the fires because they are living in the middle of it and do not have any where to go. It makes sense that actions such as controlled burns should be done because so much could be prevented. Then again there are so many people who argue against them because they are a disruption to the environment. “Fire experts argue that prescribed burns are vital for reducing the risk of catastrophic blazes and restoring ecosystems that evolved with fire” (Tobin 2). If a great deal of damage could be prevented, I do not see why there should be any concern. This is especially important when you look at what more damage is done to the environment during a huge forest fire compared to on from a petite controlled burn.

In 2003, possibly one of the worst wildfires in California’s history occurred. This fire, referred to as the Cedar Fire, spread across 273,246 acres.

The increase in high severity fires is largely due to historical and current fire suppression policies. Federal forest-fire management in the United States began in 1886 following the creation of the national parks, and the passage of the federal Clarke-McNary Act in 1924 began a national fire suppression regime (Stephens and Ruth 2005). Suppression of low severity fires allows surface and ladder fuels to accumulate, contributing to high severity crown fires. Today, 98-99% of all wildland fires are suppressed at less than 0.5 acres in size. Of the 4.5 million acres of land once burned on California, only 6% of this area is burned today. Fire suppression investment is still increasing with 3 billion more dollars invested in fire suppression since 2013. This investment has not prevented increases in the size or frequency of high intensity fires (Stephens 2014). There is currently no comprehensive policy that works to manage fire

In North America, the boreal forest is known to be one of the largest carbon storage systems. A boreal forest is a biome that is made up of trees such as pines, spruces and another conifer species, the Black Spruce being one of the most essential species of the boreal forest. Fires may be a significant element to the ecosystem in terms of maintaining an ideal community by selecting for species and their traits that, in return, shape the environment, however forest fires are causing the Black Spruce species to deteriorate in population size due to the effects of the fires, caused by a rise in temperature. Clearly, temperature is the leading factor causing constant wildland fires across North America. This concludes the degree of heat intensity in the environment is

More than a dozen wildfires in California have destroyed at least 1,500 homes in the past few days. According to this article, wildfires send smoke, soot, toxic gases and tiny particles into the air, which can be carried for tens or even hundreds of miles, and have been linked to respiratory and heart problems. Air pollution too my knowledge would be a big problem in California. Some of the most obvious health effects of wildfire smoke are itchy eyes, a burning or runny nose and coughing and the more time you spend outside when it’s smoky, the worse these symptoms are likely to get in my opinion. In addition, treated wood in a house’s frame, for instance, put there to prevent bacteria growth, can contain copper, chromium and arsenic. Consumer

California is one of the states affected by this problem. Every-time I watch the news, I see that Californians are coming with new technology to deal with this issue. We were experiencing lack of rain in Colorado Springs during the fires more than 2 years ago. Not only we lacked of rain fall, but the carbon release from the fires was way above of what the trees can absorb. The more fires we have in an area, the more carbon capture and release unbalance we have in the area adjacent. The quantitative data shown in your thread is a great method to find out more about this research. Great post!

Massive wildfire ravaged Northern California’s wine country since Sunday night. Wildfires whipped by strong winds have swept through the region, killing at least 10 lives and more than 20000 people are forced to evacuate and flee their homes. This is one of the most destructive wildfire events in the state’s history. More than a dozen wildfires continued to burn across eight counties, destroying 1500 homes and commercial structures according to losses reported up to Tuesday. More death and destruction are expected. Authorities have not said what caused the fires but October is typically the busiest month for wildfire in California. Therefore, they believed that the hot, extremely dry condition in October created the critical fire conditions.

Koster, E., Koster, K., Berninger, F., Aaltonen, H., Zhou, X., & Pumpanen, J. (2017). Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from a fire chronosequence in subarctic boreal forests of canada. Science of the Total Environment, 601, 895-905. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.246

Many people, due to simple logic, may believe that increasing deforestation will cut down on wildfires in dry conditions. If you consider it for a little while it seems to make sense. Less trees means less fuel for a fire to burn through. As said before, it’s simple logic. Except for the fact it isn’t. In fact according to Chad Hanson, commercial logging doesn’t stop wildfires, it causes them! In his article The Big Lie: Logging and Forest Fires, he wrote “Relentless clearing of forests in the Great Lakes region left huge areas largely devoid of the cooling shade of trees, replacing moist natural forest microclimates with the hotter, drier conditions characterized by stump fields.” (Hanson) He then explained that because of these dry and hot

Fires we all know them to be deadly and dangerous, but who would have thought that in Alaska, especially in the Yukon Flats there would be forest fires. These forest fires are causing a major problem with our Earth atmosphere. We can go back to 1939 and see that the fires that are happening right now are exactly the same ones that occurred in the past. The studies are being conducted by Ryan Kelly, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois and Feng Sheng Hu, a professor of plant biology and geology at the University of Illinois. For their studies, they have used actual fire data from previous studies to come up with a conclusion that in a radius of 2,000 km of the Yukon Flats the fires are way higher than what they were 10,000

These gases include but are not limited to “carbon monoxide, methane… and hydrocarbons” (Flower 1). When you inhale too much of these harmful gases you may be at risk for “ Breathing problems, bronchitis… Asthma, and chest pains.” (Flower 1). Along with these harmful gases are particles referred to as microns. Microns are sharp dust and smoke particles that are very harsh on your lungs and enter your bloodstream and can harm your vital organs. For small children, the elderly, and those who already suffer from respiratory problems, heart problems and diabetes, ten or more micrograms of microns per cubic centimeters can be extremely agonizing or fatal (Honn 1). Reaching that amount of microns can happen in two different ways. The first and most rare way is that, the density of microns comes straight from the smoke of one tree, which is rare because less than a percent of tree’s in the world can do that. The second way is that the smoke sits in one area and builds up its density due to lack of wind or rain. Regardless of how a wildfire starts the smoke it dissipates into the air is harmful to humans, therefore there is no need to “fuel the flame” by having controlled or prescribed burns. The smoke that is being released into the air that we breathe is not controllable by humans, but then

Humans have been changing the Western forests' fire system since the settlement by the Europeans and now we are experiencing the consequences of those changes. During the summer of 2002, 6.9 million acres of forests was burnt up in the West (Wildland Fires, 1). This figure is two times the ten year annual average, and it does not look like next summer will be any better (Wildfire Season, 1).

One leading cause for increasing fire activity is climate change. Over the past several hundred years, average temperatures across the globe have increased. Warming temperatures have shortened winter and spring by melting snow packs and drying out areas prematurely. They have also staved off the chilling temperatures of fall. Altogether, summer and the firefighting season is 78 days longer than it was, even in the last several decades. As a result, burnable fuels are exposed to extreme temperatures for a longer period of time. Prolonged exposure to such temperatures drives the moisture out of the fuels. Additionally, fuel moisture directly relates to fuel flammability. With high fuel moistures, fuels like trees and shrubs will have a difficult time being ignited. Not coincidentally, fires under these conditions tend to be creeping in nature and unable to rapidly devour land. However, when fuel moistures low, percentages in the teens or single digits, fire can spread very rapidly and run across the landscape. So, climate change does directly affect fire behavior and increasing fire behavior. But, that is not all. Increasing fire behavior and increasing temperatures due to climate change is a cycle. Warm temperatures enable fuel moistures decline and fires are able to take off and engulf millions of acres a year in fire. In turn, fires, more specifically large ones, emit enormous amounts of exhaust. In a study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, the

Forest fire are occurring very frequently now a days, reasons for it are heavy increase in global warning and heavy increase in temperature.

Carbon Dioxide emissions are destroying earth's environment, minute by minute. Humans play a big part in the addition to the carbon in the air. Every car on the road produces carbon dioxide into the air, as well as the factories worked in, also release carbon dioxide. However, nature also contributes to the increase of carbon dioxide. Wildfires are an attribute to greenhouse gas in the air that is almost uncontrollable by humans. When acres of land is burned, the smoke releases carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon Dioxide takes over the oxygen levels that humans need in order to live and breath. Carbon Dioxide is a gas that is absorbed from the air through plants during the process of photosynthesis. Trees are important in the regulation of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. A newspaper article, The New York Times, states, “Wildfires also release carbon dioxide, one of the main drivers of climate change, and reduce the number of trees available to absorb carbon dioxide, a double whammy for the atmosphere” (Schlossberg). Trees and forests help maintain the level of this gas, by releasing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, wildfires interrupt the receiving of carbon dioxide. When a forest catches on fire, the substance that absorbs the greenhouse gases are burned down. Not only are the wildfires releasing millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide, there is no longer a product to take in the toxic gas. Therefore, more greenhouse gases are released than absorbed,