Wildfires: A symptom of climate change
By Michael Finneran
Hampton VA (SPX) Sep 29, 2010 This summer, wildfires swept across some 22 regions of Russia, blanketing the country with dense smoke and in some cases destroying entire villages. In the foothills of Boulder, Colo., this month, wildfires exacted a similar toll on a smaller scale. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of wildfires large and small are underway at any given time across the globe. Beyond the obvious immediate health effects, this “biomass” burning is part of the equation for global warming. In northern latitudes, wildfires actually are a symptom of the Earth’s warming. ‘We already see the initial signs of climate change, and fires are part of it,” said Dr. Amber Soja, a biomass burning expert at the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) in Hampton, Va. And research suggests that a hotter Earth resulting from global warming will lead to more frequent and larger fires. The fires release “particulates” – tiny particles that become airborne – and greenhouse gases that warm the planet. A common perception is that most wildfires are caused by acts of nature, such as lightning. The inverse is true, said Dr. Joel Levine, a biomass burning expert at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. “What we found is that 90 percent of biomass burning is human instigated,” said Levine, who was the principal investigator for a NASA biomass burning program that ran from 1985 to 1999. …
