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Addressing wildfire is not simply a fire management, fire operations, or wildland-urban interface problem - it is a larger, more complex land management and societal issue. The vision for the next century is to: Safely and effectively extinguish fire, when needed; use fire where…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Administration, Aquatic, Aviation, Climate, Communications, Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire History, Fire Occurrence, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Intelligence, Logistics, Mapping, Models, Monitoring and Inventory, Outreach, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Regulations and Legislation, Restoration and Rehabilitation, Safety, Social Science, Weather, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: wildfire, wildland fire, National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy)

Fires in croplands, plantations, and rangelands contribute significantly to fire emissions in the United States, yet are often overshadowed by wildland fires in efforts to develop inventories or estimate responses to climate change. Here we quantified decadal trends, interannual…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Intelligence, Prescribed Fire, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: cropland fires, fire regimes, wildfires, air quality, climate change, plantations, remote sensing, fire management, range management, croplands, rangelands, agriculture, air quality, carbon cycle, wildfire, aerosols

The MOPITT (Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere) CO measurements over a 10-year period (2000-2009) reveal consistently positive trends on the order of 0.13-0.19 x 1016 mol cm-2 per month in CO total column concentrations over the entire globe and the hemispheres. Two…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: biomass burning, wildfires, air quality, carbon dioxide, CO - carbon monoxide, ENSO - El Nino Southern Oscillation, hydrocarbons, CH4 - methane, fire management, MOPITT CO

Introduction: Environmental contaminants are groups of unwanted, ubiquitous chemicals, found in food via weathering of the earth's crust, combustion (natural or anthropogenic), industrial uses or as unwanted bi-products of manufacturing processes. Evidence suggests that the…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Aquatic, Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: fire frequency, wildfires, agriculture, chemical compounds, chemical elements, diseases, disturbance, climate change, health factors, hydrocarbons, toxicity, water, water quality, fire management, land management, environmental contaminants, food, forest fires, human exposure, mercury methylation, water re-use

Crop residue burning is an extensive agricultural practice in the contiguous United States (CONUS). This analysis presents the results of a remote sensing-based study of crop residue burning emissions in the CONUS for the time period 2003-2007 for the atmospheric species of…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Mapping, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: cropland fires, agriculture, air quality, remote sensing, Great Plains, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Texas, Washington, fire management, range management, croplands, CO2 - carbon dioxide, CH4 - methane, CO - carbon monoxide, NO2 - nitrogen dioxide, SO2 - sulfur dioxide, PM2.5, PM10, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Coarse woody debris serves many functions in forest ecosystem processes and has important implications for fire management as it affects air quality, soil heating and carbon budgets when it combusts. There is relatively little research evaluating the physical properties relating…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Models, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: combustion, fine fuels, fuel moisture, fuel loading, fuel types, heavy fuels, ignition, air quality, bark, C - carbon, cover type, decomposition, duff, fungi, litter, overstory, plant physiology, roots, slash, snags, soil temperature, wind, Australia, Costa Rica, Central America, New Zealand, ecosystem dynamics, fire management, forest management, fuel management, coniferous forests, pine hardwood forests, CWD - coarse woody debris, FERA - Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team, thermal properties

From the text ... 'Welcome to the new era of 'megafires,' which rage with such intensity that no human force can put them out. Their main causes, climate change and fire suppression, are fueling a heated debate about how to stop them.'
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire History, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Climate, Fire Behavior
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: catastrophic fires, crown fires, experimental fires, fire intensity, fire size, fire suppression, fire whirls, fuel accumulation, lightning caused fires, rate of spread, wildfires, woody fuels, climate change, litter, storms, fire management, forest management, fuel management, land management

Respiratory problems are common among wildland firefighters. However, there are few studies directly linking occupational exposures to respiratory effects in this population. Our objective was to characterize wildland fire fighting occupational exposures and assess their…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: lung diseases, exposure assessment, CO - carbon monoxide, levoglucosan, respiratory protection

Accurate estimates for North American background (NAB) ozone (O3) in surface air over the United States are needed for setting and implementing an attainable national O3 standard. These estimates rely on simulations with atmospheric chemistry-transport models that set North…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, ozone, pollution, fire management, smoke management, surface ozone, background ozone, air pollution, air quality, exceptional events

From the introduction ... 'Announcing the release of new software packages for application in wildland fire science and management, two fields that are already fully saturated with computer technology, may seem a bit too much to many managers. However, there have been some…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Models, Restoration and Rehabilitation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: FEIS, fire intensity, fire regimes, LANDFIRE, wildfires, air quality, computer programs, fire management

The Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program (FFS) of the U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, focuses on fundamental and applied research in wildland fire, from fire physics and fire ecology to fuels management and smoke emissions. Located at the Missoula Fire…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fuels, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: climate change, research, fuel management, research accomplishment report

Smoke from wildfires has adverse biological and social consequences, and various lines of evidence suggest that smoke from wildfires in the future may be more intense and widespread, demanding that methods be developed to address its effects on people, ecosystems, and the…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: climate change, smoke transport, wildfire regime, feedbacks, coupled models

Increasing wildfire activity in recent decades, partially related to extended droughts, along with concern over potential impacts of future climate change on fire activity has resulted in increased attention on fire-climate interactions. Findings from studies published in recent…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fire projections, radiative forcing, climate feedbacks

This paper provides an overview and summary of the current state of knowledge regarding critical atmospheric processes that affect the distribution and concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols emitted from wildland fires or produced through subsequent chemical reactions…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: plume rise, atmospheric transport, atmospheric chemistry

Emissions from wildland fire are both highly variable and highly uncertain over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Wildland fire emissions change considerably due to fluctuations from year to year with overall fire season severity, from season to season as different…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: greenhouse gases, PM - particulate matter, EI - Emission Inventory

While the vast majority of carbon emitted by wildland fires is released as CO2, CO, and CH4, wildland fire smoke is nonetheless a rich and complex mixture of gases and aerosols. Primary emissions include significant amounts of CH4 and aerosol (organic aerosol and black carbon),…
Person:
Year: 2014
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, National
Keywords: carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, biomass burning, emission factors

Smoke from biomass fires makes up a substantial portion of global greenhouse gas, aerosol, and black carbon (GHG/A/BC) emissions. Understanding how fuel characteristics and conditions affect fire occurrence and extent, combustion dynamics, and fuel consumption is critical for…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence, Fuels
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: remote sensing, classification, sampling, scaling

Biomass burning is a major source of greenhouse gases, aerosols, black carbon, and atmospheric pollutants that affects regional and global climate and air quality. The spatial and temporal extent of fires and the size of burned areas are critical parameters in the estimation of…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: burned area, fire detection, GOES - Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, biomass burning, MTBS - Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

Wildfires are an important component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and one of the main pathways for movement of carbon from the land surface to the atmosphere. Fires have received much attention in recent years as potential catalysts for shifting landscapes from carbon sinks…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: forest ecology, resilience, C - carbon

Wildland fires have influenced the global carbon cycle for ~420 million years of Earth history, interacting with climate to define vegetation characteristics and distributions, trigger abrupt ecosystem shifts, and move carbon among terrestrial and atmospheric pools. Carbon…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: carbon cycle, CO2 - carbon dioxide

Superfog is a very dense fog with visibility less than 10 feet and often less than 3 feet. It is the extreme condition of increased fog density associated with specific atmospheric and weather conditions. In the Southeast, superfog events have resulted in multiple tragic motor…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Planning, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: smoke dispersion, superfog

Wildfire is on the rise. The United States is witnessing a spectacular increase in acres lost to catastrophic wildfires, a phenomenon fed by the generally hotter and dryer conditions associated with climate change. In addition to losses in lives, property, and natural resources…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire, Regulations and Legislation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: air quality, air pollution, natural fire

Fire transforms fuels (i.e. biomass, necromass, soil organic matter) into materials with different chemical and physical properties. One of these materials is ash, which is the particulate residue remaining or deposited on the ground that consists of mineral materials and…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: water quality, mineral ash, nutrient cycles, soil properties, pyrogenic, C - carbon

Smoke management has become one of the leading challenges facing prescribed fire practitioners in the Southeast and the continued use of prescribed fire in the region may depend on effective smoke and emission mitigation practices. While not a comprehensive list of smoke…
Person:
Year: 2014
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Planning, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: air quality, smoke dispersion

The level of protection to fauna provided by tree cavities during wildland fires is not well understood. Here we present a model for estimating the transport of combustion gases into cylindrical, single-entrance cavities during exposures caused by different wildland fire…
Person:
Year: 2011
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
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: cavity trees, fauna, cavities, field experimental fires, fine fuels, fire dependent species, surface fires, wildfires, CO - carbon monoxide, cavity nesting birds, gases, litter, statistical analysis, threatened and endangered species, wind, Picoides borealis, red-cockaded woodpeckers, fire management, forest management, fuel management, wildlife habitat management, wildlife management