Project Funding: 2010 - 2011

NRA: 2009 NASA: Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
The largest and most destructive fires in Southern California occur during intense Santa Ana wind events. Over the past decade, these fires have incurred billions of dollars in costs associated with fire fighting, damages to property from both fire and erosion, and impacts on human health. Predicting how these fires are likely to change in the future requires a multi-disciplinary approach that accounts for climate change effects on regional winds and ecosystems, other global change impacts on ecosystems at the urban/rural interface, changing patterns of land use, and responses of land and fire managers to this evolving system. Here we propose to study this system with the aim of improving our capability to mitigate the damages caused by these fires. We plan to address following science questions: 1) How variable are winds across Southern California during Santa Ana events and how are these winds likely to change in the future? 2) How have recent changes in the fire regime changed the composition of ecosystems and their vulnerability to future fires? 3) Will ecosystem responses to climate change over the next several decades increase or decrease the probability of intense Santa Ana fires? 4) How does smoke and dust transported by Santa Ana winds affect human health and regional biogeochemical cycles? and 5) What are the consequences of projected changes in land use for the dynamics of these fires? We plan to work closely with Orange County and Los Angeles fire and land managers, drawing upon their experience to guide our lines of science inquiry and to help formulate strategies for adaptation and mitigation.

Publications:

Faivre, N. R., Jin, Y., Goulden, M. L., Randerson, J. T. 2016. Spatial patterns and controls on burned area for two contrasting fire regimes in Southern California. Ecosphere. 7(5). DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1210

Faivre, N., Jin, Y., Goulden, M. L., Randerson, J. T. 2014. Controls on the spatial pattern of wildfire ignitions in Southern California. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 23(6), 799. DOI: 10.1071/WF13136

Jin, Y., Goulden, M. L. 2013. Ecological consequences of variation in precipitation: separating short- versus long-term effects using satellite data. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 23(3), 358-370. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12135

Jin, Y., Goulden, M. L., Faivre, N., Veraverbeke, S., Sun, F., Hall, A., Hand, M. S., Hook, S., Randerson, J. T. 2015. Identification of two distinct fire regimes in Southern California: implications for economic impact and future change. Environmental Research Letters. 10(9), 094005. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/094005

Jin, Y., Randerson, J. T., Faivre, N., Capps, S., Hall, A., Goulden, M. L. 2014. Contrasting controls on wildland fires in Southern California during periods with and without Santa Ana winds. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 119(3), 432-450. DOI: 10.1002/2013JG002541

Veraverbeke, S., Sedano, F., Hook, S. J., Randerson, J. T., Jin, Y., Rogers, B. M. 2014. Mapping the daily progression of large wildland fires using MODIS active fire data. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 23(5), 655. DOI: 10.1071/WF13015

2013 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Topographic controls on ecosystem biogeophysics and post-fire succession in semi-arid climates.   --   (George Azzari, Michael Goulden)   [abstract]
• Increased wildland fires in southern California during the mid-21st Century   --   (Yufang Jin, James T. Randerson, Michael Goulden, Scott Capps, Alex Hall)   [abstract]

2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Remote sensing of post-fire effects   --   (Sander Veraverbeke, Glynn Hulley, Sarah Harris, Simon J. Hook)   [abstract]   [poster]
• Wildland fires in Southern California: a temporal perspective   --   (Yufang Jin, James T. Randerson, Michael Goulden, Alex Hall)   [abstract]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile