Scientists using NASA satellite data and climate models have
projected drier conditions likely will cause increased fire activity across the
United States in coming decades. Other findings about U.S. wildfires, including
their amount of carbon emissions and how the length and strength of fire
seasons are expected to change under future climate conditions, were also
presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in
San Francisco.
Doug Morton of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md., presented the new analysis of future U.S. fire activity. The analysis was
based on current fire trends and predicted greenhouse gas emissions.