Earth on Fire: Connections Between Fire, Weather and Climate
Amber J. Soja
October 5, 2021 at 7:30 P.M. at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-lrcAbstract
With all the wildfires in recent news, have you ever wondered if the fires are normal or related to climate? When we have beautiful sunsets, do you wonder about the expression “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; Red sky in morning, sailor’s take warning”? On your daily walks, do you smell smoke and wonder who would be burning on such a hot day? Dr. Amber Soja will discuss the local to global feedbacks of fire and smoke.
Over the last decade, extreme fires have been in the news, and every year, we hear reports of the ‘worst’ fire season in terms of lives lost, infrastructure, communities and burned area. As climate changes, NASA’s Earth observations, research, models, and science are critical to understanding feedbacks with climate systems and important to improving our preparation for climate risk, mitigation and adaptation. Amber has had the fortune to take part in and lead numerous interdisciplinary, national and international field campaigns that investigate satellite-defined fire behavior and emissions, and the feedbacks between fire, the biosphere, weather and climate, from remote Siberia to western fires and lesser-known small and prescribed fires.
Speaker
Amber J. Soja earned her PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA in January 2004. She is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the National Institute of Aerospace and is resident in the Climate Science and Chemistry and Dynamics Branches of Atmospheric Sciences at the NASA Langley Research Center. She has 25 years of research experience in using remotely-sensed and GIS data to explore the interactions between fire, the biosphere, and atmosphere, as our weather and climate change. She has taken part in and led numerous interdisciplinary, national and international field campaigns that investigated satellite-defined fire behavior and emissions, and the feedbacks between fire, the biosphere, weather and climate, primarily in remote Siberia (e.g., FireBear, INTEX-A, INTEX-B, TexAQS, ARCTAS and FIREX-AQ).
Amber served as an Associate Program Manager for the NASA Applied Sciences Program, Wildland Fire, at NASA Head Quarters, and she served as the NASA Langley Research Center Disasters Coordinator, directing NASA resources to serve disasters when a global Charter Activation was initiated, with a specific focus on wildfires and volcanoes. She has worked closely with the Environmental Protection Agency to incorporate multiple satellite platforms in our nation’s biomass burning National Emissions Inventory (NEI), which extend the benefit of NASA data and products to outside agencies.
In her spare time, Amber absolutely adores being outside: hiking, gardening, walking, water activities, snow skiing, and her furry friends.
short link: https://go.nasa.gov/3kKdm2L
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