Monday, August 18, 2008

THE PUZZLING INFERNO

Every summer wildfires wreak havoc across Southern California, but this year, land managers and agencies have mobilized fire crews and equipment to stop the flames before they spread. However, suppressing wildfires results in less carbon storage, says Scientific American.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, compared the biomass of California's wild forests in the 1930s with those in the 1990s and found that:

* The density in mid-altitude conifer forests increased by 34 percent during the 60 years that elapsed.
* Yet, contrary to conventional wisdom -- that more trees mean additional carbon storage -- they found that the amount of carbon held actually decreased by 26 percent in the same period.

The logic behind the unanticipated findings comes down to the size of the trees that are being saved by fire suppression:

* Over the past few decades firefighters have stopped the ground blazes common in California that would have otherwise wiped out the smaller trees and undergrowth; instead, these forests now have many small and midsize trees, adding to the forest's density.
* Preserving the heftier trees is the easiest solution to augmenting carbon storage and allowing them to play their ecological roles -- they offer varied habitats and shape the land.
* However, as the climate changes, it is probably better for the forest to get back to the way it used to be: thinner and less crowded. In fact, the national parks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains already use prescribed fire to thin forests.

Even though, burning or cutting down trees will release some carbon into the atmosphere, this method reduces the chances to lose all the carbon that could be lost due to a catastrophic wildfire, says Scientific American.

Source: Keren Blankfeld Schultz, "The Puzzling Inferno," Scientific American, August 2008.

For abstract: http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=08C0EA5E-3048-8A5E-10D2246D01E3D0D6

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Press release


8/19/08





For Immediate Release:





For more information contact:





Gare Henderson


gare.henderson@gravitationalsystems.org


Gravitational Systems, L.L.C.


P.o.Box 2066


Washington, D.C. 20013


website: http://www.gravitationalsystems.org/INDRA




Unknown said...

Top scientists agree revolutionary climate control project will reduce hurricanes, droughts and wildfires.

Climatologists, biologists and physicists from all corners of the globe agree that U.S. based Gravitational Systems,

L.L.C.'s revolutionary clean power climate control project INDRA will improve the lives of billions of people around the world.

Concerns have been raised about the projects impact on biodiversity as deserts are terraformed to rainforests.

Gare Henderson, director of research and development for Gravitational Systems, L.L.C. ( a clean power developer), explains that the INDRA project, a

proposed network of specialized evaporation channels moving sea water from the oceans toward the deserts, will convert world deserts into biodiverse

rainforests. Deserts which cover 1/3 of all dry land will be terraformed into productive land.

The INDRA systems will give mankind control of the weather, ending dangerous storms such as hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, and dry heat waves within a

decade.

Vast rivers can be turned on and off in hours, and reservoirs and salt marshes drained or replenished in days.

The increased bio-mass of the terraformed deserts will begin to reverse both global warming and thermal sea level rise. UNFCCC cap and trade certification

of the INDRA project will allow individuals and business to fund the plan through carbon offsets. The initial projects will be targeted north American, and

north African deserts.

For more information contact:

Gare Henderson
gare.henderson@gravitationalsystems.org
Gravitational Systems, L.L.C.
P.o.Box 2066
Washington, D.C. 20013
website: http://www.gravitationalsystems.org/INDRA