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Smoke from fire is a local, regional and often international issue that is growing in complexity as competition for airshed resources increases. BlueSky is a smoke modeling framework designed to help address this problem by enabling simulations of the cumulative smoke impacts…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: air quality, BlueSky, British Columbia, Canada, Cascades Range, competition, cropland fires, ecosystem dynamics, fire case histories, fire management, fire regimes, fire size, fuel loading, fuel management, Idaho, land management, Montana, Oregon, remote sensing, smoke management, Washington, wildfires, BlueSky Modeling Framework, FERA - Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

Atmospheric mercury is composed primarily of Hg0 (>95%), but Hg+2 and particle bound mercury are also found in some environments. The three forms of mercury were measured at the Mount Bachelor Observatory beginning in 2005. Using data gathered from 2005 to 2007, 15 periods…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northwest
Keywords: aerosols, air quality, biomass, biomass burning, combustion, fire management, Hg - mercury, Oregon, particulates, smoke management, wildfires, Hg - mercury, wildfire, biomass burning

This paper presents an operational approach to predicting fire growth for wildland fires in Canada. The approach addresses data assimilation to provide predictions in a timely and efficient manner. Fuels and elevation grids, forecast weather, and active fire locations are…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Fire Ecology, Emissions and Smoke, Fuels, Models, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: Alberta, Canada, cover, elevation, fire case histories, fire danger rating, fire growth, fire management, fire size, forest management, fuel management, fuel types, ignition, national parks, Northwest Territories, remote sensing, Saskatchewan, temperature, wildfires, wind, wood, fire detection, fire-growth modelling, Wood Buffalo National Park

BACKGROUND: During the last week of June 2008, central and northern California experienced thousands of forest and brush fires, giving rise to a week of severe fire-related particulate air pollution throughout the region. California experienced
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Fire Ecology, Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): California, Great Basin
Keywords: air quality, brush, brush fires, fire case histories, fire injuries (humans), fire management, health factors, northern California, particulates, pollution, smoke effects, smoke management, toxicity, wildfires, air pollution, alveolar macrophage, lung inflammation, mouse, PM2.5

A means of determining air emission source regions adversely influencing the city of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada from potential burning of isolated piles of mountain pine beetle-killed lodge pole pine is presented. The analysis uses the CALPUFF atmospheric dispersion…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Mapping, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: air quality, British Columbia, burning permits, Canada, Dendroctonus ponderosae, fire exclusion, fire management, forest management, human caused fires, insects, mortality, pine, plant diseases, slash, smoke management, wind, wood, airshed, CALPUFF, influence region, dispersion modeling

We report the rapid response of Formosat-2 to locate the fire points in the 2007 California wildfire. After examining the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) image taken and released on 23 October 2007, we used the agility of Formosat-2 to take high spatial…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Hazard and Risk, Mapping
Region(s): California, Great Basin
Keywords: fire case histories, fire damage (property), fire injuries (humans), fire intensity, fire management, fire size, photography, rate of spread, remote sensing, statistical analysis, temperature, wildfires, hot spots, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, natural hazards, remote sensing

We evaluate the fine-grain age patch model of fire regimes in southern California shrublands. Proponents contend that the historical condition was characterized by frequent small to moderate size, slow-moving smoldering fires, and that this regime has been disrupted by fire…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire History, Fire Occurrence, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Intelligence, Models, Social Science, Weather
Region(s): California, Great Basin
Keywords: age classes, BEHAVE, chaparral, distribution, droughts, fine fuels, fire case histories, fire damage (property), fire frequency, fire intensity, fire management, fire regimes, fire size, fire suppression, firebrands, flammability, Foehn winds, forest management, fuel accumulation, fuel moisture, ignition, mosaic, range management, scrub, shrublands, southern California, suppression, wildfires, wind, 19th century, Baja California, chaparral, fine-grain age patch mosaic, high-intensity fires, megafires, sage scrub, Santa Ana winds

From the text ... 'So what is the number one reason that we're burning? What is the number one reason we treat fuels? Well, of course it's to protect the public from extremely high concentration of fine particulates associated with wildfire, right? And that's the number one…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, hydrocarbons, ozone, fire management, forest management, smoke management, Barriers, fire frequency, fire management, Florida, St. Johns River Water Management District

From the text ... 'Because fire was such an important historic disturbance and is a large component in understanding regional differences in emissions, it is analogous to an elephant in the closet. One can think of fire frequency as the elephant. That is, it is an issue that is…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fire frequency, air quality, fire management, forest management, smoke management

A pair of three-day workshops were held in 2008 and 2009, designed for fire managers responsible for communicating and negotiating with state and local air quality regulators. The workshops were organized by the NWCG Smoke Committee, coordinated by the University of Idaho, and…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Project
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Communications, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Regulations and Legislation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: air quality regulations, smoke management, collaboration

Many factors increase susceptibility of forests to wildfire. Among them are increases in human population, changes in land use, fire suppression, and frequent droughts. These factors have been exacerbating forest susceptibility to wildfires over the last century in southern…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke
Region(s): California
Keywords: bark beetle, air pollution, drought, nitrogen deposition, diseases, San Bernardino Mountains, forest densification, ozone exposure, wildfire

The boreal forest contains large reserves of carbon. Across this region, wildfires influence the temporal and spatial dynamics of carbon storage. In this study, we estimate fire emissions and changes in carbon storage for boreal North America over the 21st century. We use a…
Person:
Year: 2009
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, International, National
Keywords: climate change, North America, boreal carbon dynamics, boreal forests, fire emissions

Depending on management, forests can be an important sink or source of carbon that if released as CO2 could contribute to global warming. Many forests in the western United States are being treated to reduce fuels, yet the effects of these treatments on forest carbon are not…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire Prevention, Fuels, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): California
Keywords: fire suppression, forest management, Sierra Nevada, Teakettle Experimental Forest, biomass, carbon sequestration, carbon stock, global warming, fuel management, mixed-conifer forest, Abies concolor, C - carbon, combustion, Calocedrus decurrens, coniferous forests, experimental areas, fire management, fire sensitive plants, forest products, climate change, heavy fuels, litter, overstory, Pinus jeffreyi, Jeffrey pine, Pinus lambertiana, population density, Quercus kelloggii, regeneration, roots, size classes, slash, snags, stand characteristics, suppression, surface fuels, thinning, trees, understory vegetation, wildfires

Air pollution generated by vegetation fire smoke (VFS) is a phenomenon that has influenced the global environment in prehistoric and historic time scales. Although historic evidence of the impacts of VFS on societies is scarce, there are indications that VFS has been a factor…
Person:
Year: 2009
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, remote sensing, air pollution, human health, PM - particulate matter, PM10, smoke dispersion, environmental impacts, radionuclides, vegetation fire smoke

Weather and climate have a profound influence on wildland fire ignition potential, fire behavior, and fire severity. Local weather and climate are affected by large-scale patterns of winds over the hemispheres that predispose wildland fuels to fire. The characteristics of…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Occurrence, Fuels, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: ENSO - El Nino Southern Oscillation, fuel moisture, wildland fire, AVHRR - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer, climate change, wind

Every year tens of millions of hectares of forests, woodlands, and grasslands burn globally. Some are burned intentionally for land conversion, pasture renewal or hazard reduction, or wildlife habitat improvement, but most are burned by uncontrolled wildfire. Estimates of burned…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: carbon flux, fire regime, carbon emissions, carbon stock, carbon storage, climate change, fire dynamics, soil processes

In wildland fire management, reliable fire intelligence is needed to direct suppression resources, maintain firefighter safety, predict fire behavior, mitigate fire effects in the environment, and justify and evaluate the effectiveness of fuel management. Fire intelligence needs…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Mapping, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): California
Keywords: carbon flux, remote sensing, climate change, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, radiant heat flux, FireMapper, radiant emissions, radiant-flux density

The U.S. Clean Air Act establishes the goal of preventing future and remedying existing visibility impairment in 156 Class I areas (national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges). A key element in implementing this goal is the Regional Haze Regulation (RHR). RHR is…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: air quality, PM2.5, air pollution, Clean Air Act, PM - particulate matter, visibility, Regional Haze Rule, IMPROVE, Haze Index, aerosol loading

Mixed-conifer forests of southern California are exposed to nitrogen (N) deposition levels that impair carbon (C) and N cycling, enhance forest flammability, increase the risk of fire occurrence and air pollution emissions in fire, and increase nitrate runoff and soil N…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): California
Keywords: FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, forest management, leaching, nitrogen loss, nitrogen deposition, fuel loads, DAYCENT

Concerns about smoke from large high-intensity and managed low intensity fires have been increasing during the past decade. Because smoke from large high-intensity fires are known to contain and generate secondary fine particles (PM2.5) and ozone precursors, the effect of fires…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models
Region(s): California
Keywords: BlueSky Modeling Framework, PM2.5, Sierra Nevada, ozone, smoke dispersion, statistical models, secondary fine particles

Fuel treatments (prescribed fire and mechanical removal) on public lands in California are critical for reducing fuel accumulation and wildfire frequency and severity and protecting private property located in the wildland-urban interface. Treatments are especially needed in…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Monitoring and Inventory, Prescribed Fire, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): California
Keywords: air quality, air pollution, climate change, climate variability, fuel treatment

The interaction between smoke and air pollution creates a public health challenge. Fuels treatments proposed for National Forests are intended to reduce fuel accumulations and wildfire frequency and severity, as well as to protect property located in the wild land-urban…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Weather, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: wildland fire, air pollution, public health

This report summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It is largely based on results of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and integrates those results with related research from around…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Models, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fire frequency, fire severity, acres burned, climate change, climate change impact analysis

Wildland fires are major sources of trace gases and aerosol, and these emissions are believed to significantly influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the earth's climate system. The wide variety of pollutants released by wildland fire include greenhouse gases,…
Person:
Year: 2009
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: wildland fire, air pollution, biomass burning, aerosol, trace gases, chemical composition

This report details a procedure for identifying fuel loading models (FLMs) in the field. FLMs are a new classification system for predicting fire effects from on-site fuels. Each FLM class represents fuel beds that have similar fuel loadings and produce similar emissions and…
Person:
Year: 2009
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Mapping, Models, Restoration and Rehabilitation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fuel loading, fire mapping, fuel classification, first-order fire effects, fuel classification key, fine fuels, fuel types, heavy fuels, air quality, biomass, duff, herbaceous vegetation, litter, soil temperature, fuel management, wildlife habitat management, chaparral, grasslands, shrublands