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State of Wildfires 2023–2024

Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type

Climate change contributes to the increased frequency and intensity of wildfires globally, with significant impacts on society and the environment. However, our understanding of the global distribution of extreme fires remains skewed, primarily influenced by media coverage and regionalised research efforts.

Moderating effects of past wildfire on reburn severity depend on climate and initial severity in Western US forests

Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type

Rising global fire activity is increasing the prevalence of repeated short-interval burning (reburning) in forests worldwide. In forests that historically experienced frequent-fire regimes, high-severity fire exacerbates the severity of subsequent fires by increasing prevalence of shrubs and/or by creating drier understory conditions.

Optimising disaster response: opportunities and challenges with Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) technology in response to the 2020 Labour Day wildfires in Oregon, USA

Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type

Background

The expanding use of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) technology in disaster response shows its immense potential to enhance emergency management. However, there is limited documentation on the challenges and data management procedures related to UAS operation.

Aims

Prefire Drought Intensity Drives Postfire Recovery and Mortality in Pinus monticola and Pseudotsuga menziesii Saplings

Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type

Increasing frequency of droughts and wildfire are sparking concerns that these compounded disturbance events are pushing forested ecosystems beyond recovery. An improved understanding of how compounded events affect tree physiology and mortality is needed given the reliance of fire management planning on accurate estimates of postfire tree mortality.

A model for rapid PM2.5 exposure estimates in wildfire conditions using routinely available data: rapidfire v0.1.3

Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type

Urban smoke exposure events from large wildfires have become increasingly common in California and throughout the western United States. The ability to study the impacts of high smoke aerosol exposures from these events on the public is limited by the availability of high-quality, spatially resolved estimates of aerosol concentrations.