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Determining the role of crop residue burning in post-monsoon air quality degradation across Northern India
Photo: Crop residue burning in the Punjab, India (2020). Different waste materials are burnt at different times of year. Unlike here in Feb, in Oct/Nov it is mainly the leftover straw from rice production. Millions of tonnes of material are burned annually. Credit: M. Wooster, King’s College London. Outdoor air pollution is the world’s greatest […]
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An interview with Prof. Jay Mistry
Prof. Jay Mistry is an Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, and Professor of Environmental Geography at Royal Holloway University of London. Her interests lie in environmental management and governance, participatory visual methods, Indigenous geographies, and fire management, particularly in tropical savannas. Our Centre Director, Prof. Colin Prentice, talked to Prof. […]
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Peat fires, like those raging in Siberia, will become more common in Canada (1 Aug 2020)
“The notion of wildfires in Siberia, an area known for its blustery, snow-capped landscapes, seems counter-intuitive. The recent blazes have been driven by a record heat wave in the Russian Arctic, but these aren’t your typical forest fires. They’re actually peat fires, a natural phenomenon that scientists have only recently begun to understand— and one […]
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Leverhulme Wildfires partners with charity Generating Genius, engaging students from African and Caribbean backgrounds in wildfire challenge
The Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society recently partnered with Generating Genius to run an outreach activity aimed at engaging A-level students in the topic of wildfires. Generating Genius is a UK-based charity which helps talented students of African and Caribbean heritage, and who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, to develop the skills and confidence […]
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A top-down approach to biomass burning emissions inventories and its application to Africa
Image: Monthly emissions of total particulate matter (TPM) from landscape fires in Africa for 2013 to 2018, as derived using the updated “Fire Radiative Energy Emissions” (FREM) methodology (blue) and compared to those of other inventories: GFEDv4.1s (green), GFASv1.2 (purple), and the FEERv1.0 coefficients applied to the GFASv1.2 (red) and SEVIRI FRE data (yellow). FREM […]
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Advances in the global observation of wildfires – using European satellites for real-time mapping the location and radiative strength of landscape burning from space
Image: Sentinel-3B SLSTR Night Time FRP – Data on active fires from the European SLSTR instrument now joins that from the US MODIS instrument in providing daily mapping of the strength if fires worldwide. The image shows the extent of fires detected in a single month. Satellite Earth observation (EO) of landscape burning is a […]
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Record heat wave in Siberia has far-flung consequences (13 July 2020)
“Oil spills, intense heat waves, smoldering wildfires and thawing permafrost: Siberia is experiencing the destructive effects of climate change. And scientists say if action isn’t taken soon, it’s only going to get worse”. Imperial’s Prof Guillermo Rein spoke to DW news about peatfires in Siberia. Image: A dry grass fire in Siberia, about 75 kilometers […]
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Firewise Communities – helping neighbourhoods prepare and respond to wildfires
Photo: Fire at Upton Heath, Dorset, in 2011 adjacent to the Dorset Firewise community just prior to their evacuation. Photo Credit: Urban Heaths Partnership Last year, Firewise Communities launched in Dorset as part of a new UK initiative to provide community guidance and support for preparing and responding to wildfires. Dr Adriana Ford, our Centre […]
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PhD Studentship: The complexity of adopting environmental management, conservation and restoration initiatives within fire-prone landscapes
Project description There is a global push to better manage, conserve and restore ecosystems to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crisis. For example, restoration targets such as the Bonn challenge – aiming to restore 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030 – encourage widespread forest restoration. At the same time, the frequency […]
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PhD Studentship: Incentives, Politics, Policies and Wildfire
Project Description Wildfire and human activity interact in complex ways. Identifying the mechanisms through which human behaviour influences wildfire outcomes is crucial for developing effective mitigation and adaptation policies, especially given the uncertainty introduced by the changing climate. This project will add to the understanding of the human drivers of wildfire. The candidate will develop […]
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