Will the surge in major wildfire events in the western United States as a consequence of climate change expose tens of millions of Americans to high levels of air pollution in the coming decades?
August 18th, 2016“….Smoke from wildfires, which are becoming more frequent and intense in the U.S. West as the climate changes, contains large amounts of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which can have profound impacts on human health…..”
“Smoke Wave”: ≥2 consecutive days with high wildfire-specific PM2.5, to describe episodes of high air pollution from wildfires.
“…..Under future climate change, we estimate that more than 82 million individuals will experience a 57 % and 31 % increase in the frequency and intensity, respectively, of Smoke Waves. Northern California, Western Oregon and the Great Plains are likely to suffer the highest exposure to widlfire smoke in the future……”
Liu, J.C., Mickley, L.J., Sulprizio, M.P., et al. “Particulate air pollution from wildfires in the Western US under climate change.” Climatic Change (2016). DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1762-6