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In this webinar, RMRS research ecologist Sam Cushman, wildlife biologist Joe Ganey, and research ecologist Gavin Jones discussed their latest research on spotted owls and wildfire, including modeling the impacts of habitat loss under climate change on the Mexican spotted owl,…
Person: Cushman, Ganey, Jones
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Models, Restoration and Rehabilitation
Region(s): California, Northwest, Southwest
Keywords: climate change, Strix occidentalis, Strix occidentalis caurina, Strix occidentalis lucida, Strix occidentalis occidentalis, spotted owl, annual area burned, habitat, northern spotted owl, California spotted owl, Mexican spotted owl, forest composition, historical fire regime

A statement by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council and their partners relating to the benefits of prescribed fire programs.
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords:

Air quality impacts from wildfires have been dramatic in recent years, with millions of people exposed to elevated and sometimes hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations for extended periods. Fires emit particulate matter (PM) and gaseous compounds that can…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): California, Eastern, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest
Keywords: air quality, human health, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, health effects, respiratory health, cardiovascular health, wildfire, AQI - Air Quality Index, remote sensing, emission factors

Nitrous acid (HONO) is a precursor of the hydroxyl radical in the atmosphere, which controls the degradation of greenhouse gases, contributes to photochemical smog and ozone production, and influences air quality. Although biomass burning is known to contribute substantially to…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Mapping, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: atmospheric science, climate science, HONO - nitrous acid, wildfires, plumes, NO2 - nitrogen dioxide, satellite monitoring, remote sensing, greenhouse gases, O3 - ozone

Wildfires over the past 3 years have resulted in lengthy episodes of smoke inundation across major metropolitan areas in Australia, Brazil, and the United States. In 2020, air quality across the western United States reached and sustained extremely unhealthy to hazardous levels…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: Australia, Brazil, PM - particulate matter, health impacts, air quality, human health

Wildfires and other types of biomass burning are a seasonal phenomenon in different land ecosystems around the world. Such fires are estimated to consume biomass containing a total of 2-5 petagrams of carbon globally every year, generating heat energy and emitting smoke plumes…
Person: Ichoku
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Mapping, Models, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: FRE - Fire Radiative Energy, biomass, PM - particulate matter, air quality, black carbon, CO2 - carbon dioxide, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, remote sensing, emission factor, satellite observations

This webinar to the NWCG Smoke Committee describes experimental tools developed for smoke management including higher resolution 7-day forecasts. Presented by Bret Anderson, who works for the National USDA Forest Service Air program and develops tools for wildfire smoke…
Person: Anderson
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models, Planning, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: Smoke Dispersion Modeling, smoke modeling, air quality forecasting

Wildfires in the western United States are expected to increase both in size and severity in coming decades. These trends are likely to accelerate large-scale habitat loss and fragmentation for the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest, California, and the Southwest. All three…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects
Region(s): California, Northwest, Southwest
Keywords: spotted owl, Strix occidentalis, Strix occidentalis caurina, Strix occidentalis lucida, Strix occidentalis occidentalis, northern spotted owl, California spotted owl, Mexican spotted owl, large fires, annual area burned, habitat, fire severity, forest structure, forest composition

There has been an increasing interest in the economic health cost from smoke exposure from wildfires in the past 20 years, particularly in the north-western USA that is reflected in an emergent literature. In this review, we provide an overview and discussion of studies since…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, International
Keywords: BenMAP Community Edition, health impacts, literature review, Canada

Reliable predictions of emissions from wildland fires are a key element of smoke management programs. Emission factors (the amount of pollutants produced per amount of fuel consumed) are used in models to estimate the composition of smoke. Over the past two decades, laboratory…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, air quality, fuel bed, flaming, smoldering, emission factors, wildfire

In response to wildfire-related air quality issues as well as those associated with winter wood stove use and prescribed and agricultural burning, Clean Air Methow’s Clean Air Ambassador program established a community air monitoring network (CAMN) to provide geospatially…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Northwest
Keywords: wildfire smoke, air quality, clean air monitoring network, community science, Washington

Studies evaluating the health impacts of climate change, predict that the frequency and intensity of wildfires will increase as climate change creates longer, warmer, and drier seasons. Although respiratory morbidity in the immediate aftermath of wildfires is well documented for…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Hazard and Risk, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: wildfires, health impacts, children, ash, air quality, respiratory health

With increasing heat and droughts world-wide, wildfires are becoming a more serious global threat to the world’s population. Wildfire smoke is composed of approximately 80% to 90% of fine (<2.5 um) and ultrafine (<1 um) particulate matter (PM) which are also common to…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: PM2.5, PM - particulate matter, public health

Wildfires strongly regulate carbon (C) cycling and storage in boreal forests and account for almost 10% of global fire C emissions. However, the anticipated effects of climate change on fire regimes may destabilize current C-climate feedbacks and switch the systems to new…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: fire disturbance, fire severity, soil respiration, CH4 - methane, N2O - nitrous oxide, permafrost, boreal forests, greenhouse gases

Increasing development of exo-urban environments and the spread of urbanization into forested areas is making humans and forest ecosystems more susceptible to the risks associated with wildfires. Larger and more damaging wildfires are having a negative impact on forest ecosystem…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: aerosols, air quality, atmosphere, remote sensing, urbanization, wildfires, public health, VIIRS - Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite

The Paris Agreement calls on parties to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change by engaging in appropriate policies and measures as put forward through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), to strengthen transparency when reporting their greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: climate change, peat, biomass burning, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer), greenhouse gas emissions, burned area

Background: Wildfire events are increasing in prevalence in the western United States. Research has found mixed results on the degree to which exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Methods: We tested for an association between exposure to…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects
Region(s): Northwest
Keywords: wildfire smoke, wildfires, environmental epidemiology, mortality, Washington, PM2.5

Characterizing pre- and post-fire fuels remains a key challenge for estimating biomass consumption and carbon emissions from wildfires. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) data have demonstrated effectiveness for estimating canopy, and to a lesser degree, surface fuel components at…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models
Region(s): Northwest, Southwest
Keywords: airborne lidar, forest biomass, carbon emissions, eastern Cascade Range, Bandelier National Monument, biomass consumption, ALS - Airborne Laser Scanners, Pole Creek Fire, Oregon, Las Conchas Fire, New Mexico, fuel consumption

Smoke emissions from wildland fires contribute to concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter and greenhouse gases, influencing public health and climate. Prediction of emissions is critical for smoke management to mitigate the effects on visibility and air quality. Models…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: prediction interval, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty analysis, FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, air quality, CONSUME

Biomass-burning emissions (BBE) profoundly affect climate and air quality. BBE have been estimated using various methods, including satellite-based fire radiative power (FRP). However, BBE estimates show very large variability and the accuracy of emissions estimation is poorly…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): California, Eastern, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest
Keywords: FRP - Fire Radiative Power, biomass burning, GOES - Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, CO - carbon monoxide, Sentinel-5, TROPOMI - TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, ABI - Advanced Baseline Imager

Using observations and model simulations (ESM 4.1) during 1988–2018, we show large year‐to‐year variability in western U.S. PM2.5 pollution caused by regional and distant fires. Widespread wildfires, combined with stagnation, caused summer PM2.5 pollution in 2017 and 2018 to…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: air quality, wildfires, fire emission uncertainty, drought, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5

Prescribed fire can result in significant benefits to ecosystems and society. Examples include improved wildlife habitat, enhanced biodiversity, reduced threat of destructive wildfire, and enhanced ecosystem resilience. Prescribed fire can also come with costs, such as reduced…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: C - carbon, wildfires, fire severity, fire management, fire regimes

The Fire Continuum Conference, co-sponsored by the Association for Fire Ecology and the International Association of Wildland Fire, was designed to cover both the biophysical and human dimensions aspects of fire along the fire continuum. This proceedings includes many of topics…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire History, Fire Occurrence, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Mapping, Models, Monitoring and Inventory, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Restoration and Rehabilitation, Safety, Social Science, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: wildfires, bushfires, wildland fire

The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is exploring options to modernize 19 land management plans in the Bioregional Assessment (BioA) area (figures Intro-1 and Intro-2). The 19 plans include all those in the Northwest Forest Plan amendment (NWFP) and two other…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Safety, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): California, Northwest
Keywords: wildfires, air quality, climate change, fire management, fuel management, disturbance, resilience, fire severity, fire frequency, fuels management

This webinar from the APHA Center for Climate, Health and Equity discussed wildfire smoke and its public health impacts with a focus on health equity. Presenters: Described the public health impacts of wildfire smoke. Identified the ways in which climate change and health equity…
Person: Barrett, Cascio, Nootz
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Planning, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: public health, health equity, climate change, wildfires, air quality, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, respiratory health, cardiovascular health, wildland fire, asthma, CHVI - Community Health-Vulnerability Index, community resilience, communities at risk