Wildfires

[knocker]

The increase in wildfires in the NH is having a huge impact on many aspects of life. It's time perhaps to have a closer look.I'll start it off with this current report.

 

'The Northern Hemisphere Is on Fire'

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_au/read/the-northern-hemisphere-is-on-fire

[knocker]

Burn Scars in Eastern Russia

 

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/burn-scars-in-eastern-russia/#.U9QryUCz1X5

[knocker]

 

Few people know better than Lori Daniels that the pillars of dark smoke rising over the forests of British Columbia this summer are going to increase in both frequency and intensity in the future.

 

The University of B.C. associate professor knows that in part because of what she sees looking into the deep past, studying the fire scars left on trees as far back as 700 years ago when the Black Death was sweeping through Europe and the Ming Dynasty was beginning in China.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/forest-fires-climate-changes-new-normal/article19793117/

[knocker]

Reliable Fire Forecasting Could Help Stop Dangerous Western Blazes

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/07/28/cawfe_reliable_fire_forecasting_could_help_stop_dangerous_western_blazes.html

[knocker]

Governor Brown Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Consume California

[Gray-Wolf]

It is certainly an important subject Knocks and with some nasty impacts for us all. I recently came across a figure of deaths linked to the impacts of wildfires on health esp respiratory issues.

 

Wildfires across the north (tundra regions) are adding into the issue of permafrost melt by the albedo changes it imposes. With snow cover leaving ever earlier the darkened earth is able to warm all summer ( anyone walking across a burned moor on a sunny day will readily accept just the kind of temp difference 'healthy' vegetation provides compared to burned off sections?).

[knocker]

Sala Burning: Worst Fire in 40 Years Rages in Sweltering Sweden

 

Throughout June, July and into August, the Arctic country has seen day after day of record heat. Thermometers hitting the upper 70s, 80s, and even 90s have become a common event in a land famous for its cooling mists, Arctic lights, and frozen fjords.

 

By Wednesday of last week, the heat had reached a tipping point. Fire erupted across a ridge line just to the northwest of Sala, Sweden and about 120 kilometers north of Stockholm. The fire rapidly intensified, expanding as nearby towns fell under its shadow.

 

http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/sala-burning-worst-fire-in-40-years-rages-in-sweltering-sweden/

[keithlucky]

Forest fires at all time low in USA http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm

[knocker]

Smoke from Russian Fires Over Arctic Sea

 

 

Numerous wildfires have dotted the Russian landscape this past summer fire season.  Although not quite as the adage says, although still true, where there's fire there's smoke. The smoke in this image has drifted from the Eastern Russian wildfires to the Arctic Sea. Other images that have been collected over the summer show both the fires that have broken out and the accompanying smoke, and can be viewed by clicking the links below:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/smoke-from-russian-fires-over-arctic-sea/#.U-uXcaOz1X4

[knocker]

Historic Wildfires Burn Through Canada As Sub-Arctic Forests Heat Up

Wildfires are taking off in Canada as the country goes through one of its hottest and driest summers in decades.

Wildfire activity in the Northwest Territories is more than six times higher than its 25-year average, and as of August 23 a total of 162 wildfires were burning in British Columbia. The latter province has seen 1,269 wildfires so far this year, along with 314,895 hectares of land burned — almost equivalent to 2010, when the province lost 337,149 hectares to various blazes.