Wildfire influence on recent U.S. pollution trends

with Marshall Burke
Speaker
Marshall Burke, Associate Professor, Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems
Date
Wed February 15th 2023, 12:30 - 1:30pm
Event Sponsor
The Bill Lane Center for the American West, the Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford Sustainability Data Science, and the Woods Institute for the Environment
Location
Online via Zoom. See link below.

Steady improvements in ambient air quality over multiple decades in the United States have led to large public health benefits, and the policies that drove these improvements are considered landmarks in successful environmental policymaking. In recent years, however, research by Marshall Burke, associate professor in the Department of Earth System Science, has shown that improvements in ambient concentrations of PM2.5, a pollutant known to have a broad array of negative health and economic impacts, have stagnated or begun to reverse in 42 U.S. states.

Using a combination of ground- and satellite-based datasets, Burke and colleagues are quantifying the contribution of wildfire smoke to these recent trends. They have found that since 2016, wildfire smoke has significantly slowed or reversed improvements in average annual PM2.5 concentrations in two-thirds of U.S. states, eroding 20% of previous gains on average and over 50% in multiple western states. Smoke effects on trends in extreme daily PM2.5 concentrations are detectable by 2010, but effects are concentrated primarily in western states.

Smoke-driven increases in PM2.5 concentrations are unregulated under current air quality legislation, and absent additional intervention, wildfire's contribution to regional and national air quality trends is likely to grow as the climate continues to warm.

Burke joins us for the fifth seminar in the winter 2023 Wildland Fire Seminar Series, co-sponsored by the Bill Lane Center for the American West,  Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford Sustainability Data Science, and Woods Institute for the Environment. In the series, we will hear from a spectrum of researchers, decision makers, and industry experts on some important issues and challenges related to wildland fires. 

These seminars are also intended as a springboard for students interested in participating in Spring Quarter's Big Earth Hackathon: Wildland Fire Challenge.  Attendees can expect to hear about some of the most pressing wildfire related problems requiring innovative solutions.

WILDLAND FIRE SEMINAR SERIES
Winter Quarter 2022-23
Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. - Seminars via Zoom 

  • January 18: What the Clean Air Act needs to get right about wildfire
    Michael Wara, Climate and Energy Policy Program, Stanford Woods Institute
  • January 25: Altering the course of wildland fire through analytics and shared stewardship
    Jason Kuiken, US Forest Service
  • February 1: Can we really address the wildfire problem?
    Bob Roper, Chair of the CA Fire Safe Council and Policy Advisor to the Western Fire Chief's Association
  • February 8: Is climate change redefining your health?
    Mary Prunicki, Sean Parker Center for Asthma and Allergy Research
  • February 15: Wildfire influence on recent US pollution trends
    Marshall Burke, Environmental Change and Human Outcome Lab
  • February 22: NFTs to fund fire prevention, forest stewardship and land back
    Eric Bear and Thule Horton, 2023 Wildland Fire Challenge winners
  • March 1: Utilities' efforts to mitigate wildfire risk and partnerships needed to ensure success
    Bob Messner, Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency, Portland General Electric
  • March 8: Indigenous led fire management
    Amy Cardinal Christianson, Canadian Forest Service / Parks Canada Agency

 

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