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New Project Focuses on Life in Soil in the Earth’s Critical Zone

October 6, 2020
Since 2007, UC Merced researchers have been extremely productive in the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), delving into investigations of hydrology, climate change, geology, biology and more. But the National Science Foundation, which funded the CZOs, is decommissioning the sites and...

How wine country became the epicenter for fires in California

October 2, 2020
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Perhaps no part of California has felt more threatened by fire in recent years than the vast expanse of wine country and the Redwood Empire north of San Francisco. More than 9,000 structures were lost and dozens of people were killed in 2017, when fires swept through...

Climate Change Hits Poor and People of Color Hardest

October 2, 2020
People of color and the poor are the hardest hit by the effects of climate change, a panel of experts said Friday. And buyouts and programs of assistance to help people impacted by climate change-related disasters generally favor the wealthy and white communities in the U.S., not the people who...

California's ancient 'asbestos' forests no longer seem immune

October 2, 2020
CALIFORNIA, USA — In the annals of California’s wildfire history, so much is happening now that seems unfathomable: The number and size of this year’s fires — and their maddingly erratic behaviors — have created the worst season in the state’s modern history....

Megafires are Breaking Climate Models, Highlighting California's Need to Focus on Prevention

October 2, 2020
Michael Jones was up the entire night Sunday watching the Glass Fire take off in Napa and Sonoma counties. At more than 42,000 acres Tuesday it’s damaged at least eight wineries, 80 other homes and businesses and forced tens of thousands to flee. “It's blown into Santa Rosa...

The West's Infernos Are Melting Our Sense of How Fire Works

October 2, 2020
ON THE WINDY, hot day of July 26, 2018, as record 113-­degree temperatures baked Redding, California, in the northern Sacramento Valley, Eric Knapp toiled in an air-conditioned government office. After work, he planned to meet his wife and 3-year-old daughter, and some family friends, for...

Global Fire Outlook Not Good News, but Mitigation is Possible, Analysis Shows

September 29, 2020
Wildfire is a natural process necessary to many ecosystems. But wildfires are getting worse and more damaging, and it is our fault, according to new research. A paper by two UC Merced researchers and their colleagues, published in a new Nature journal called Nature Reviews Earth &...

Californians eye moving to escape ‘new normal’ of deadly wildfires

September 25, 2020
Dozens of wildfires had forced more than 23,000 Californians out of their homes by Tuesday — with many planning to flee to the likes of New York to escape what one resident described as a terrifying “new normal.” Nearly 19,000 firefighters are still battling 27 major blazes...

What is causing California's destructive wildfires?

September 25, 2020
With yet another devastating fire season underway, many California residents are wondering why there have been so many more destructive fires recently. Is it because of climate change? Is it because of overgrown and neglected forests? Or is it because there are simply more people living in...

California and the Forest Service have a plan to prevent future catastrophic fires

September 25, 2020
As hundreds of fires scorch California, state officials and federal forest agents signed an agreement that may help the state be able to better weather future fire seasons. Right now, the second and third largest fires in the state’s history are ripping through coastal...

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