scholarly journals Mid‐21st‐century climate changes increase predicted fire occurrence and fire season length, Northern Rocky Mountains, United States

Ecosphere ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin L. Riley ◽  
Rachel A. Loehman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Season Length ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains

Wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean A. Parks ◽  
Carol Miller ◽  
Lisa M. Holsinger ◽  
L. Scott Baggett ◽  
Benjamin J. Bird
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Western Us ◽  
Landscape Level

Several aspects of wildland fire are moderated by site- and landscape-level vegetation changes caused by previous fire, thereby creating a dynamic where one fire exerts a regulatory control on subsequent fire. For example, wildland fire has been shown to regulate the size and severity of subsequent fire. However, wildland fire has the potential to influence other properties of subsequent fire. One of those properties – the extent to which a previous wildland fire inhibits new fires from igniting and spreading within its perimeter – is the focus of our study. In four large wilderness study areas in the western United States (US), we evaluated whether or not wildland fire regulated the ignition and spread (hereafter occurrence) of subsequent fire. Results clearly indicate that wildland fire indeed regulates subsequent occurrence of fires ≥ 20 ha in all study areas. We also evaluated the longevity of the regulating effect and found that wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence for nine years in the warm/dry study area in the south-western US and over 20 years in the cooler/wetter study areas in the northern Rocky Mountains. Our findings expand upon our understanding of the regulating capacity of wildland fire and the importance of wildland fire in creating and maintaining resilience to future fire events.

scholarly journals The Distribution of Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of the United States

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (79) ◽  
pp. 325-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Graf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains

AbstractEvidence from aerial photographs, maps, and field checks indicates that 319 glaciers lie in cirques of the Rocky Mountains, south of the United States-Canadian border. On a subcontinental scale, the distribution of glaciers is highly clustered, with larger and denser clusters located in the northern Rocky Mountains. Lesser concentrations of small glaciers occur in the southern Rocky Mountains. The total area of glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S.A. is 78.9 km2.

A novel assessment of population structure and gene flow in grey wolf populations of the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (20) ◽  
pp. 4412-4427 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIDGETT M. VONHOLDT ◽  
DANIEL R. STAHLER ◽  
EDWARD E. BANGS ◽  
DOUGLAS W. SMITH ◽  
MIKE D. JIMENEZ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
Gene Flow ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grey Wolf ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains

Habitat Selection by Recolonizing Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States

2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 554-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN K. OAKLEAF ◽  
DENNIS L. MURRAY ◽  
JAMES R. OAKLEAF ◽  
EDWARD E. BANGS ◽  
CURT M. MACK ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains

Survival of Colonizing Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States, 1982–2004

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 620-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Smith ◽  
Edward E. Bangs ◽  
John K. Oakleaf ◽  
Curtis Mack ◽  
Joseph Fontaine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains

scholarly journals Trends and spatial shifts in lightning fires and smoke concentrations in response to 21st century climate over the forests of the Western United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Loretta J. Mickley ◽  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Jed O. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Chemical Transport Model

Abstract. Almost US$ 3bn per year is appropriated for wildfire management on public land in the United States. Recent studies have suggested that ongoing climate change will lead to warmer and drier conditions in the Western United States with a consequent increase in the number and size of wildfires, yet large uncertainty exists in these projections. To assess the influence of future changes in climate and land cover on lightning-caused wildfires in National Forests and Parks of the Western United States and the consequences of these fires on air quality, we link a dynamic vegetation model that includes a process-based representation of fire (LPJ-LMfire) to a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Under a scenario of moderate future climate change (RCP4.5), increasing lightning-caused wildfire enhances the burden of smoke fine particulate matter (PM), with mass concentration increases of ~ 53 % by the late-21st century during the fire season. In a high-emissions scenario (RCP8.5), smoke PM concentrations double by 2100. RCP8.5 also shows large, northward shifts in dry matter burned, leading to enhanced lightning-caused fire activity especially over forests in the northern states.

scholarly journals Trends and spatial shifts in lightning fires and smoke concentrations in response to 21st century climate over the national forests and parks of the western United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (14) ◽  
pp. 8827-8838
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Loretta J. Mickley ◽  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Jed O. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
National Forests ◽  
Chemical Transport Model

Abstract. Almost USD 3 billion per year is appropriated for wildfire management on public land in the United States. Recent studies have suggested that ongoing climate change will lead to warmer and drier conditions in the western United States, with a consequent increase in the number and size of wildfires, yet large uncertainty exists in these projections. To assess the influence of future changes in climate and land cover on lightning-caused wildfires in the national forests and parks of the western United States and the consequences of these fires on air quality, we link a dynamic vegetation model that includes a process-based representation of fire (LPJ-LMfire) to a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Under a scenario of moderate future climate change (RCP4.5), increasing lightning-caused wildfire enhances the burden of smoke fine particulate matter (PM), with mass concentration increases of ∼53 % by the late 21st century during the fire season in the national forests and parks of the western United States. In a high-emissions scenario (RCP8.5), smoke PM concentrations double by 2100. RCP8.5 also shows enhanced lightning-caused fire activity, especially over forests in the northern states.

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