Webinar hosts: International Association for Wildland Fire, Widlfire Lessons Learned Center, and Joint Fire Science Program

Presenter: Don McKenzie

Description: Smoke from wildfires has adverse biological and social consequences, and various lines of evidence suggest that smoke from wildfires in the future may be more intense and widespread, demanding that methods be developed to address its effects on people, ecosystems, and the atmosphere. Don McKenzie will present the essential ingredients of a modeling system for projecting smoke consequences in a rapidly warming climate that is expected to change wildfire regimes significantly. This work addressed a prospective audience of researchers whom we expected to be fluent already in building some or many of these components, so we neither prescribed nor advocated particular models or software. Instead, our intent was to highlight fruitful ways of thinking about the task as a whole and its components. We provide a overview of the complexities of smoke modeling under climate change, and a research agenda for developing a modeling system that is equal to the task while being feasible with current resources.