Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




FIRE STORM
Southern California wildfires show split personalities
by Staff Writers
Davis CA (SPX) Sep 14, 2015


File image.

Wildfires have ravaged regions of Southern California at an increasing rate over the past few decades, and scientists from three University of California campuses and partner institutions are predicting that by mid-century, a lot more will go up in flames.

In research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists discuss the split-personality nature of Southern California wildfires. They describe two distinct wildfire regimes, those driven by offshore Santa Ana winds that kick up in the fall and non-Santa Ana fires that result primarily from hot, dry conditions in the summer.

Santa Ana Fires More Damaging
The two fire regimes consume roughly the same amount of acreage and cost similar amounts to suppress. However, the Santa Ana fires, which tend to hit more developed areas such as the coastal areas of Los Angeles and San Diego, are roughly 10 times more economically damaging.

"The traditional one-size-fits-all fuel management strategy will not be effective in reducing fire risks and preventing large fires because factors such as fuel and weather vary for different fire regimes," said lead author Yufang Jin, assistant professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis and a researcher at UC Irvine at the time of the study.

"California and the western U.S. are expected to face increased fire risk from the current multi-year drought. Local meteorology, extreme climate events, and ecosystem processes must be explicitly considered to develop effective mitigation and adaptation strategies."

Compared to non-Santa Ana fires, Santa Ana fires:

- Spread three times faster

- Burned into urban areas with greater housing values

- Were responsible for 80 percent of the $3.1 billion in economic losses occurring over the study period of 1990 to 2009.

The researchers relied on NASA's satellite data and decades' worth of fire records from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the U.S. Forest Service.

Contrasting Personalities
Stoked by dry desert air channeled through mountain passes and canyons, Santa Ana fires burn with more intensity, and they do their worst in a shorter period of time than summer fires. In a typical Santa Ana fire, half of the territory burned is consumed in the first day of the blaze. Examples of Santa Ana fires include the costly Cedar Fire in San Diego and dozens of others that burned in late October 2003.

Non-Santa Ana fires, by contrast, burn more slowly over more remote mountain areas. Non-Santa Ana fires, such as the Station Fire that scorched large portions of the San Gabriel Mountains in 2009, rely on hot temperatures and dried vegetation and woody debris that serves as a fuel source.

A Question Of Resources
Both types of fires are costly and damaging, but the researchers see change on the horizon.

"Warming in the summertime will be a big factor in increasing the number and size of non-Santa Ana fires," said co-author Alex Hall, UCLA professor of atmospheric and oceanic studies. "Lower relative humidity during Santa Ana events resulting from climate change toward the middle of the century will lead to larger Santa Ana fires."

Fire-prone regions also face increased competition during the summer for firefighting resources, such as air tankers, vehicles, and personnel.

"The large economic and human impacts of Santa Ana fires raises the question of whether more resources during the fall could be marshaled for suppressing these fires," said James Randerson, Chancellor's Professor of Earth system science at UCI and senior author on the paper.

Read the study here


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
University of California - Davis
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





FIRE STORM
Indonesian fires send smog over Singapore, Malaysia
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 8, 2015
Smog from forest fires in Indonesia on Tuesday prompted the cancellation of flights and warnings for people to stay indoors, while pushing air quality to unhealthy levels in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia. The thick haze came from blazes on western Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo island, which are home to huge palm oil and pulp and paper plantations. Vast tracts o ... read more


FIRE STORM
Big China payouts for Tianjin firefighters' families

EU chief calls human traffickers 'murderers', urges crackdown

France Nears Completion of Chernobyl Steel Confinement Structure

France cash pledge for persecuted Mideast minorities

FIRE STORM
Billie Holiday to return to New York stage -- by hologram

Half diamond, half cubic boron, all cutting business

Customizing 3-D printing

DNA-guided 3-D printing of human tissue is unveiled

FIRE STORM
Ocean acidification weighing heavily upon marine algae

Activists find Taiwanese ship with 'illegal' shark fins: Greenpeace

Pacific leader warns Australia on climate stance

Could tiny jellyfish propulsion drive design of new underwater craft

FIRE STORM
US icebreaker reaches North Pole

Icebreaker Healy first U.S. surface ship to reach North Pole on its own

New clues as to how crew survived 1813 shipwreck in Alaska

Reconstructing a vanished bird community from the Ice Age

FIRE STORM
Fourth wheat gene is key to flowering and climate adaptation

EU lawmakers want full animal cloning ban

Crop rotation boosts soil microbes, benefits plant growth

Plants also suffer from stress

FIRE STORM
Tropical storm Henri forms in the Atlantic: forecasters

Typhoon Etau slams into Japanese mainland

Hundreds trapped as floods sweep Japan

Typhoon Etau barrelling toward Japanese mainland

FIRE STORM
Sudan police break up Omdurman protest with tear gas: witnesses

Horse ban in NE Nigeria after Boko Haram attacks

US dentist who killed Cecil the lion breaks silence

Algeria power struggle intensifies with arrest, sackings

FIRE STORM
A one-million-year-old monkey fossil

Ancient human shoulders reveal links to ape ancestors

Did grandmas make people pair up?

New film aims to capture 'Human' experience




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.