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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK FIRES.
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Background of the 1988 fire & its possible effects on the troposphere & weather patterns.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Background of the 1988 fire & its possible effects on the troposphere & weather patterns.

Paper Introduction:
Effects of Yellowstone National Park Fires on the Troposphere Introduction Biomass burning is a major source of trace gases and aerosol particles, with possible ramifications for atmospheric chemistry, cloud properties and radiation budget (Erme Ora Byrd Building, 1998). Biomass burning accounts for about a quarter of the global emissions of greenhouse gases, with comparable rate of production of smoke particles to that of sulfate particles from industrial and urban sources (Radke et al., 1991; Penner et al., 1992; IPCC, 1995). This begs the question; could a forest fire of the size and duration of the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires cause long or short term effects to the troposphere? If effects are indicated, does this in turn affect weather and long term cl

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Soldiers and civilian workers dug largefire lines through the forest removing trees and soil to deprive the flamesof fuel and prevent spreading. Anchor Books, New York. M. and Fraser, R.S., (1997) The effect of smoke particleson clouds and climate forcing. al., 1998). The carbon cycle notwithstanding, it does not seem that a fire likethe one that occurred in Yellowstone National Park in 1988 was large enoughto have caused any significant effects in the troposphere (Erme Ora BirdBuilding, 1998). (1997) showed that due to its low sensitivity tohumidity and high absorption the effect may be significantly smaller. Virtually no rain had fallen in June, July orAugust. A squadron of airplanes and helicopters was used to fight thefires. As reviewed by Kaufman andFraser, Warner and Twomey, Whitlow, Mayewski, Dibb, Holdsworth andTwickler, these effects can best be described as short term and locallyspeaking, environmental. Journal ofAtmospheric Science, 24: 7 4-7 6. and Nakajima, T., (1993). References Earth on Fire. On-line. J., Justice, C., Flynn, L., Kendall, J., Prins, E.,Giglio, L., Ward, D. The situation was made worse because many of the big fireswere accompanied by windstorms of hurricane intensity (Philpot, 199 ). (199 ) Forests on Fire: The Fight to Save Our Trees, K.Watts, New York. and Radke, L.F., (1969). Science, 277, 1636 - 1639. E., Menzel, P., and Setzer. Though Hobbs et al. Effect of Amazon smoke oncloud microphysics and albedo-analysis from satellite imagery. Located high in the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Wyoming,Yellowstone is the oldest and most famous US national park. In the summer of 1988, Yellowstone NationalPark was gripped by the worst drought in its 112 year recorded history(Kaufman, et. Burn records from several northern hemisphereice cores have shown the impact of fire management in North America overthe last few decades (Whitlow et al., 1994). B, 46, 234-242. Carbon Cycle. Nothing could stop the roaring wall of flame driven by windstorms ofhurricane intensity. Almost half of the forest inYellowstone National Park itself was scorched or consumed by the flames(Vogt, 199 ). As the fires approached Old Faithful, the famous Yellowstone geyser,the US Army was called in to help. It was not park officials or the US Army that determined thecourse of the Yellowstone fires. and Twickler M.,(1994) An ice- core-based record of biomass burning in the Arctic andSubarctic, 175 -198 , Tellus, Ser. Hazen, R. Hobbs, P.V. Possible Effects of the Yellowstone Fire on the Troposphere Widespread biomass burning is a phenomenon that has an impact on thechemistry of the atmosphere and biogeochemical cycles as a whole (Hazen andTrefil, 1991). In real-time terms the Yellowstone fire released aerosols and organicsinto an environment that should have quickly recycled the carbon, nitrogen,sulfur, and so on. J. There were 249 firesin the Greater Yellowstone Area in 1988 - about double the normal number.Most of these fires burned over a small area and extinguished themselvesquickly. When Yellowstone Park officials realized how dangerous the situationwas, they launched the largest forest firesuppression effort in US history. More than 25, fire fighters joined thebattle. By this we mean that increased rain fall amounts(somewhere) may result, increased reflectivity (albedo) may occur, andobserved sediment will evidence burn patterns. and Lacis, A.A., (199 ). Whitlow, S., Mayewski P., Dibb J., Holdsworth G. This kind of fire plays an essential ecological role in forestvitality by renewing the vegetation and eliminating dead forest litter.However, 5 of the fires spread much more quickly and with more intensitythan normal. Available http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/carbon/efcarbon.html. Park officials protested that they did everything that could have beendone. Philpot, C. (1998) On-line. Cloud condensation nuclei from asimulated forest fire, Science, 163:279-28 . Fire Control and Fire Impact: The Yellowstone Experience. Thecombined effect of biomass burning aerosols and aerosols originating fromindustrial/urban activities is considered to be the largest identifieduncertainty in assessing a possible anthropogenic climate change (Hansenand Lacis, 199 ; IPCC, 1995). Kaufman, Y. In: Global BiomassBurning, MIT Press, Levine J.S.(ed.), Cambridge, USA, 2 9-224. It was the weather (YellowstoneExperience, 1989). and O'Neill, C. Biomassburning accounts for about a quarter of the global emissions of greenhousegases, with comparable rate of production of smoke particles to that ofsulfate particles from industrial and urban sources (Radke et al., 1991;Penner et al., 1992; IPCC, 1995). If effects are indicated, does this in turnaffect weather and long term climate? Available:http://cstars.ucdavis.edu/nasa-essp/fire-eos/paper.html Morrison, M., (1993) Fire in Paradise, Harper Collins, New York. Effects of Yellowstone National Park Fires on the Troposphere Introduction Biomass burning is a major source of trace gases and aerosolparticles, with possible ramifications for atmospheric chemistry, cloudproperties and radiation budget (Erme Ora Byrd Building, 1998). Kaufman, Y.J. Then we need to understand the possibletropospheric effects. Background The Yellowstone fire in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho began with aseries of lightning strikes on July 9 - 11, 1988 and eventually spread toengulf 5, km2 in and around YellowstoneNational Park (Morrison, 1993). No fire fighters could halt that kind ofconflagration. Journal ofApplied Meteorology, 32:729-744. Penner, J. Smoke particles, like those generated by forest fires have been shownto be effective cloud condensation nuclei (Warner and Twomey, 1967; Hobbsand Radke, 1969), affect the cloud drop size and reflectivity (Kaufman andNakajima, 1993; Kaufman and Fraser, 1997) and may have a similar radiativeforcing to that of sulfates (Penner et al., 1992; Dickinson, 1993). 185-187. (1991) Science Matters: AchievingScientific Literacy. Kaufman, Y. (1998) A Potential GlobalFire Monitoring from EOS-MODIS. The winds blew embers and burning branches miles inadvance of the fire. Erme Ora Byrd Building. Sun and dust versus greenhousegases: an assessment of their relative roles in global climate change,Nature, 346: 713-719. W. First we need to explore thecausative factors of the fire. Strict fire suppression in the early days of the park had leftYellowstone with numerous old stands of lodgepole pine, many of which werenow severely stressed by the drought. Establishing the past record of burn events enables thescientific community to evaluate the relationship between hot and dryclimatic conditions and the frequency of large fires (such as theYellowstone fires of 1988). (1992) Effects ofaerosol from biomass burning on the global radiation budget. Pilots from all over North America flew more than 1 aircraft totransport supplies and bombard the flames with water and chemicalretardants (Vogt, 199 ). Despite the best efforts of the US ParkService and the Army, more than 411, hectares of forest in the GreaterYellowstone Area were damaged by the fires. and Ward D.E., (1991) Particulate and tracegas emissions from large biomass fires in North America. Radke, L.F., Hegg D.A., Hobbs P.V., Dance J.D., Lyons J.H., LaursenK.K., Weiss R.E., Riggan P.J. Conclusion Even though it seems a reasonable assumption that prolonged forestfires might affect weather patterns vis-a-vis aerosols in the tropospherethere is no direct short term evidence of same. E., Dickenson, R. There may have been increased rainfall amounts.Certain plant species probably found the burn conditions adventitious. Many trees had already been killed bymountain pine bark beetle infestation (Philpot, 199 ). Warner, J., and Twomey S., 1967: The production of cloud nuclei bycane fires and the effect on cloud droplet concentration. (1989) On-line. The Greater Yellowstone Area, which includes Yellowstone Park itself,Teton National Park, and six national forests, covers 2.9 million hectares.The peaks of the Rocky Mountains, large forests of lodgepole pine, andabundant moose, deer and bear, make it one of the US's most popular touristattractions (Kaufman, et.al., 1998). Science,256:1432-1434. This begs the question; could a forest fire of the size and durationof the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires cause long or short termeffects to the troposphere? Available:http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/jskiles/fliers/all_flier_prose/yellowstonefires_brass/yellowstonefires_brass.html Hansen, J.E. and Trefil, J. Vogt, G. (199 ) The Wildfires in the Northern Rocky Mountainsand Greater Yellowstone Area - 1988, Transactions of the 55th NorthAmerican Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, pp.

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