Climate change and wildfire

Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Contact: Yongqiang Liu
yliu@fs.fed.us
706-559-4240
USDA Forest Service ? Southern Research Station

Synthesis of recent findings

Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

A new article published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management by U.S. Forest Service scientists synthesizes recent findings on the interactions between fire and climate and outlines future research needs. Authored by research meteorologists Yongqiang Liu and Scott Goodrick from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Warren Heilman from the Northern Research Station, the article homes in on the effect of emissions from wildfires on long-term atmospheric conditions.

"While research has historically focused on fire-weather interactions, there is increasing attention paid to fire-climate interactions," says Liu, lead author and team leader with the SRS Center for Forest Disturbance Science. "Weather, the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region, influences individual fires within a fire season. In contrast, when we talk about fire climate, we're looking at the statistics of weather over a certain period. Fire climate sets atmospheric conditions for fire activity in longer time frames and larger geographic scales."

Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases, particles, water, and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions. Radiative forcing refers to the change in net (down minus up) irradiance (solar plus longwave) at the tropopause, the top of the troposphere where most weather takes place.

Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing), and modifying the cloud droplet concentrations and lifetime, and hence the cloud radiative properties (indirect radiative forcing). The change in radiation can cause further changes in global temperatures and precipitation.

"Wildfire emissions can have remarkable impacts on radiative forcing," says Liu. "During fire events or burning seasons, smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels. At the global scale, fire emissions of carbon dioxide contribute substantially to the global greenhouse effect."

Other major findings covered in the synthesis include:

• The radiative forcing of smoke particles can generate significant regional climate effects, leading to lower temperatures at the ground surface.
• Smoke particles mostly suppress cloud formation and precipitation. Fire events could lead to more droughts.
• Black carbon, essentially the fine particles of carbon that color smoke, plays different roles in affecting climate. In the middle and lower atmosphere, its presence could lead to a more stable atmosphere. Black carbon plays a special role in the snow-climate feedback loop, accelerating snow melting.

Land surface changes may be triggered that also play into future effects. "Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems," says Liu. "Besides the atmospheric impacts, wildfires also modify terrestrial ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism. The effects can in turn trigger land use changes that in turn affect the atmosphere."

The article concludes by outlining issues that lead to uncertainties in understanding fire-climate interactions and the future research needed to address them.

###

Full text of the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811271300114X

Headquartered in Asheville, NC, the Southern Research Station comprises more than 120 scientists and several hundred support staff who conduct natural resource research in 20 locations across 13 southern states (Virginia to Texas). The Station's mission is "to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide." Learn more about the Southern Research Station at: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yongqiang Liu
yliu@fs.fed.us
706-559-4240
USDA Forest Service ? Southern Research Station

Synthesis of recent findings

Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

A new article published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management by U.S. Forest Service scientists synthesizes recent findings on the interactions between fire and climate and outlines future research needs. Authored by research meteorologists Yongqiang Liu and Scott Goodrick from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Warren Heilman from the Northern Research Station, the article homes in on the effect of emissions from wildfires on long-term atmospheric conditions.

"While research has historically focused on fire-weather interactions, there is increasing attention paid to fire-climate interactions," says Liu, lead author and team leader with the SRS Center for Forest Disturbance Science. "Weather, the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region, influences individual fires within a fire season. In contrast, when we talk about fire climate, we're looking at the statistics of weather over a certain period. Fire climate sets atmospheric conditions for fire activity in longer time frames and larger geographic scales."

Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases, particles, water, and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions. Radiative forcing refers to the change in net (down minus up) irradiance (solar plus longwave) at the tropopause, the top of the troposphere where most weather takes place.

Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing), and modifying the cloud droplet concentrations and lifetime, and hence the cloud radiative properties (indirect radiative forcing). The change in radiation can cause further changes in global temperatures and precipitation.

"Wildfire emissions can have remarkable impacts on radiative forcing," says Liu. "During fire events or burning seasons, smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels. At the global scale, fire emissions of carbon dioxide contribute substantially to the global greenhouse effect."

Other major findings covered in the synthesis include:

• The radiative forcing of smoke particles can generate significant regional climate effects, leading to lower temperatures at the ground surface.
• Smoke particles mostly suppress cloud formation and precipitation. Fire events could lead to more droughts.
• Black carbon, essentially the fine particles of carbon that color smoke, plays different roles in affecting climate. In the middle and lower atmosphere, its presence could lead to a more stable atmosphere. Black carbon plays a special role in the snow-climate feedback loop, accelerating snow melting.

Land surface changes may be triggered that also play into future effects. "Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems," says Liu. "Besides the atmospheric impacts, wildfires also modify terrestrial ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism. The effects can in turn trigger land use changes that in turn affect the atmosphere."

The article concludes by outlining issues that lead to uncertainties in understanding fire-climate interactions and the future research needed to address them.

###

Full text of the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811271300114X

Headquartered in Asheville, NC, the Southern Research Station comprises more than 120 scientists and several hundred support staff who conduct natural resource research in 20 locations across 13 southern states (Virginia to Texas). The Station's mission is "to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide." Learn more about the Southern Research Station at: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/ufs-cca052113.php

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Fastest measurements ever made of ion channel proteins

May 20, 2013 ? The miniaturization of electronics continues to create unprecedented capabilities in computer and communications applications, enabling handheld wireless devices with tremendous computing performance operating on battery power. This same miniaturization of electronic systems is also creating new opportunities in biotechnology and biophysics.

A team of researchers at Columbia Engineering has used miniaturized electronics to measure the activity of individual ion-channel proteins with temporal resolution as fine as one microsecond, producing the fastest recordings of single ion channels ever performed. Ion channels are biomolecules that allow charged atoms to flow in and out of cells, and they are an important work-horse in cell signaling, sensing, and energetics. They are also being explored for nanopore sequencing applications. As the "transistors" of living systems, they are the target of many drugs, and the ability to perform such fast measurements of these proteins will lead to new understanding of their functions.

The researchers have designed a custom integrated circuit to perform these measurements, in which an artificial cell membrane and ion channel are attached directly to the surface of the amplifier chip. The results are described in a paper published online May 1, 2013, in Nano Letters.

"Scientists have been measuring single ion channels using large rack-mount electronic systems for the last 30 years," says Jacob Rosenstein, the lead author on the paper. Rosenstein was a PhD student in electrical engineering at the School at the time this work was done, and is now an assistant professor at Brown University. "By designing a custom microelectronic amplifier and tightly integrating the ion channel directly onto the amplifier chip surface, we are able to reduce stray capacitances that get in the way of making fast measurements."

"This work builds on other efforts in my laboratory to study the properties of individual molecules using custom electronics designed for this purpose," says Ken Shepard, professor of electrical engineering at the School and Rosenstein's adviser. The Shepard group continues to find ways to speed up these single-molecule measurements. "In some cases," he adds, "we may be able to speed things up to be a million times faster than current techniques."

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/LPXV4eezxRk/130520154259.htm

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Microsoft announces Halo live-action TV series created by 343 Industries and Steven Spielberg

The Xbox One is a big deal for consoles, but Microsoft just made a massive content announcement at today's reveal event -- a live-action Halo TV series. As if the existence of such a television show weren't enough, it turns out that 343 Industries is teaming up with renowned moviemaker Steven Spielberg to bring the world of Master Chief to life in serial form. Spielberg will be the executive producer and the show will provide "exclusive interactive Xbox One content," whatever that means. Unfortunately, neither Microsoft nor Mr. Spielberg are telling when the show will actually be available for your eyeballs to view, but it is, most assuredly an actual thing. And just knowing that the follow up to Halo: Forward Unto Dawn is coming is enough, right?

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/V-T6HUfLiv8/

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The New ?Handmade?

Amid grumblings of a "general fatigue" when it comes to software-based startups, a potentially transformative technology called 3D printing is poised to reach critical mass and mainstream awareness. Today's news headlines about the technology tend to focus on the extreme possibilities in being able to print objects on demand - from the terrors of things like a homemade 3D-printed gun to heartwarming tales of printed robotic hands for children born without fingers. But the innovation is also powering a revolution of a different kind. An emerging class of creatives are using 3D printing techniques, not to either save or destroy the world and the people in it, but simply to create a little beauty along the way.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JGpzyg6X2e4/

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Patented system bolsters security of information stored on electronic devices

Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Contact: Joe Kullman
joe.kullman@asu.edu
480-965-8122
Arizona State University

TEMPE, Ariz. Arizona State University computer scientist Gail-Joon Ahn has been granted a U.S. patent for a novel identity management system that helps protect personal identity information stored in digital devices.

The patent is the result of a 10-year project Ahn began in 2003 as an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNC Charlotte), where he was the founding director of the Center for Digital Identity and Cyber Defense Research.

Ahn is now an associate professor and a Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

He's also founder and chief technology officer of GFS Technology, an ASU-incubated company set up to commercialize his mobile security technologies.

GFS Technology focuses on identity management solutions and also works on a platform for mobile users whose mobile devices are used for work, eCommerce, financial transactions and Internet use. The technology protects against insecure connections, hackers, phishers and identity thieves by targeting four layers of vulnerability: networks, applications, services and data.

Ahn's platform stems from a more ambitious project to produce a "mobile wallet" that can safely store a person's "digital presence" and other personal information on a mobile device.

"This invention is just one piece," Ahn says. "There are a lot of other applications for this technology."

GFS Technology's solutions can be used for anything from ensuring confidential business transactions to securely purchasing groceries at the supermarket.

"This invention can create a new paradigm in terms of purchasing transactions in the mobile computing community," he explains.

Ahn led a research project on the identity management solution for Bank of America for five years when he was at UNC Charlotte, but due to economic restrictions at the time Bank of America could not afford the technology. When Ahn came to ASU in 2008, he brought his security research project with him.

The Open Invention Network, a North Carolina-based company, purchased and licensed Ahn's work at ASU in 2009, including an invention that protects customers' identity. The company's clients include large corporations such as IBM and Cisco.

When Open Invention Network licensed Ahn's work, the company filed seven patent applications in his name. "ASU realized it was very valuable," Ahn says, and Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) the university's intellectual property management and technology transfer organization then helped to develop GFS Technology.

The patent on the identity management system is the first Ahn has received. He has six pending patents for the digital security platform, along with two other security patents pending on systems that focus on picture-password authentication and Internet security.

###

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Joe Kullman
joe.kullman@asu.edu
480-965-8122
Arizona State University

TEMPE, Ariz. Arizona State University computer scientist Gail-Joon Ahn has been granted a U.S. patent for a novel identity management system that helps protect personal identity information stored in digital devices.

The patent is the result of a 10-year project Ahn began in 2003 as an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNC Charlotte), where he was the founding director of the Center for Digital Identity and Cyber Defense Research.

Ahn is now an associate professor and a Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

He's also founder and chief technology officer of GFS Technology, an ASU-incubated company set up to commercialize his mobile security technologies.

GFS Technology focuses on identity management solutions and also works on a platform for mobile users whose mobile devices are used for work, eCommerce, financial transactions and Internet use. The technology protects against insecure connections, hackers, phishers and identity thieves by targeting four layers of vulnerability: networks, applications, services and data.

Ahn's platform stems from a more ambitious project to produce a "mobile wallet" that can safely store a person's "digital presence" and other personal information on a mobile device.

"This invention is just one piece," Ahn says. "There are a lot of other applications for this technology."

GFS Technology's solutions can be used for anything from ensuring confidential business transactions to securely purchasing groceries at the supermarket.

"This invention can create a new paradigm in terms of purchasing transactions in the mobile computing community," he explains.

Ahn led a research project on the identity management solution for Bank of America for five years when he was at UNC Charlotte, but due to economic restrictions at the time Bank of America could not afford the technology. When Ahn came to ASU in 2008, he brought his security research project with him.

The Open Invention Network, a North Carolina-based company, purchased and licensed Ahn's work at ASU in 2009, including an invention that protects customers' identity. The company's clients include large corporations such as IBM and Cisco.

When Open Invention Network licensed Ahn's work, the company filed seven patent applications in his name. "ASU realized it was very valuable," Ahn says, and Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) the university's intellectual property management and technology transfer organization then helped to develop GFS Technology.

The patent on the identity management system is the first Ahn has received. He has six pending patents for the digital security platform, along with two other security patents pending on systems that focus on picture-password authentication and Internet security.

###

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/asu-psb052113.php

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Gillibrand's Student Loan Proposal Follows Warren's Lead - Truthdig

Gillibrand?s Student Loan Proposal Follows Warren?s Lead

Posted on May?20,?2013

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has proposed legislation that would allow holders of student debt to refinance their loans at lower interest rates, a move that could save tens of millions of borrowers a combined $14.5 billion in the first year. Under the plan, government loans with interest rates above 4 percent would be refinanced to a fixed rate of 4 percent.

?At a time when corporations, homeowners and even local governments are refinancing at historically low interest rates and saving millions of dollars, students and families who take out loans to pay for college are getting left behind,? she said. ?Ensuring that our graduates are not saddled with unmanageable debt by keeping interest rates low is just common sense.?

Gillibrand?s move comes less than two weeks after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill that would effectively give new students seeking federal loans to finance their education the same low interest rates as the bailed out Wall Street financial institutions.

Think Progress:

Holders of federal student loans haven?t seen a drop in their interest rates even as other borrowing costs have fallen. Many loans have interest rates of 6.8 or 7.9 percent, while the interest rate for the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is 3.5 percent.

And as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently pointed out, banks have even lower borrowing costs when they come to the federal government to borrow. They can get an interest rate of 0.75 percent on loans through the Federal Reserve discount window. Warren has also introduced a bill to address high levels of student debt by calling for student loan rates to mirror those that benefit banks.

...The Center for American Progress estimated that Gillibrand?s legislation would save borrowers $14.5 billion in the first year, leading to a $21.7 billion boost in economic activity.

Read more

?Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/sen_kirsten_gillibrand_follows_sen_elizabeth_warrens_lead_20130520/

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Roots of future tropical rainfall: Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice age

May 19, 2013 ? How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don't always agree on where rainfall patterns will shift in particular regions within the tropics.

A new study, published online May 19 in the journal Nature Geoscience, looks to the past to learn about the future of tropical climate change, and our ability to simulate it with numerical models.

Pedro DiNezio of the University of Hawaii and Jessica Tierney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution investigated preserved geological clues (called "proxies") of rainfall patterns during a time when the planet went into opposite gear and cooled dramatically in the last ice age. Land clues included charcoal from fires, and evidence of more sand dune activity and desiccated lakes, all indicating drier conditions, and evidence for higher lake levels and more pollen, indicating wetter conditions. They also looked at records of seafloor sediments containing preserved shells of dead marine organisms; the shells contain higher or lower levels of a heavier isotope of oxygen, depending on the relative salinity of surface waters when the organisms were alive (less salty waters indicate more rainfall over the ocean).

Together the records show that 26,000 to 19,000 years ago during the ice age, conditions were drier throughout the center of the Indo-Pacific warm pool -- a vast region of warm ocean waters in the western Pacific region that is the main source of heat and moisture to Earth's atmosphere. Wetter conditions prevailed on either side of the warm pool.

They then compared this evidence with results from 12 different mathematical climate models that simulate Earth's climate, which incorporate basic laws of physics, chemistry, and fluid dynamics surrounding air-sea-land-ice interactions. The idea is that the ice age provides a great test "to evaluate numerical models' ability to simulate climates radically different from the present one," the scientists said.

Their results surprised them: Only one model, developed by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the England, reproduced the rainfall patterns they found from the geological evidence: a pattern of strong, widespread dry conditions over Indonesia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia, wetter conditions in eastern Africa, saltier waters (less rainfall) in the eastern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal and less salty waters (more rainfall) in the Arabian Sea and the western Pacific.

The scientists say the primary cause for these conditions during glacial times was lower sea levels, which exposed the now-submerged Sunda Shelf as dry land and connected what are now Indonesian islands into one large land mass. However, the finding that only one model is able to reproduce the patterns of rainfall during the glacial period has broad implications for simulating tropical climate change.

Climate scientists think that the main weakness of the models is their limited ability to simulate convection, the vertical air motions that lift humid air into the atmosphere. Differences in the way each model simulates convection may explain why model results for the glacial period are so different and don't match the proxy evidence.

"The good news is, the Hadley model combined with the geological evidence show a pathway to improve our ability to simulate and predict tropical rainfall in the future," Tierney said. "The more we study the mechanisms that governed tropical climate in the past, the better we can predict the climate changes that will affect the billions of people that live in this vast region of the world."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/4VqE8vw1EGU/130519190418.htm

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