Yellowstone wildfire Stratton 1

Bryan Stratton

Atmosphere 1010

April 30, y

Yellowstone Wildfire

http://strattbe21.weebly.com/coursework.html

On average, every year, about 1.2 million acres of US woodland will burn down due to

wildfires. It is said that the largest climate change to occur in the United States happened in the

1930s. During this time and continuing on until about 2005 most of the US was in an extreme

drought. This drought was called the Palmer drought. During the very beginning of the 1930s,

An intense heat wave struck the United States. This heat wave was the largest we have

experienced in over a century. The CO2 ppm (parts per million). skyrocketed to 310. The states

effected fluctuated drastically from year to

year, but by the end nearly the entire US was

in some form of drought. (See image 1 &2)

< (Image 1)

v(Image 2)
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One of the biggest contributions to wildfires in the United States not only in the past, but

also today, is weather conditions. Beginning with the Palmer drought conditions have only

gotten worse. Since the 1970s certain states have seen drastic changes in weather. Arizona, one

of these such states, has hastily heated up by 1 degree Fahrenheit per decade. Some of the other

states that are also rising quickly in temperature are as follows, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Utah,

and New Mexico. It is projected by the National Climate Assessment report that the this region

of the United States will increase in average, annually, 3.3 to 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit until about

2070 to 2099. (See image 3)

At this point we have to ask ourselves where this climate change is coming from.

There are many different answers to this question. One of these answers in which this paper will

go into detail is on climate change due to change in Carbon Dioxide concentration. On Earths
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Observatory, it tells about the effects of Carbon Dioxide. While this gas is the most important

fas for controlling Earths temperature, it can also be detrimental. This miracle gas, along with

methane, and halocarbons, are called greenhouse gases, and they allow Earth to stay 0 degrees

Fahrenheit. However, with too many of these gases the planet could easily reach temperatures

around 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Carbon Dioxide is responsible for twenty percent of

contribution to global warming; and because of global warming the fire season and the size of

the area burned each year is rapidly increasing. Already, as of 2017, our planet his risen in

temperature by 1.4 degrees since 1880. But our air si not the only thing that Carbon Dioxide

effects. The ocean is a huge victim of this life saving gas. About 30 percent of Carbon Dioxide

that has been placed in the air by people is spread through the ocean. As a result, Carbonic acid

is created, this increases the acidity of the water. The main way this effects the ocean is by

creating a vicious cycle. When rocks are dissolved, they release carbon ions, these carbon ions

allow the ocean to soak up Carbon dioxide in the air in order to form a bicarbonate. When an

extreme amount of carbon is introduced into the water, it forces the rocks to disintegrate quicker

than the regular pace allowing more carbon ions to be released and an even larger amount of

carbon to be introduced once again. With so many effects of carbon dioxide, it is no wonder this

planet is dying, and bringing the people living on it down with it. Carbon alters the environment

so much, where does it all come from?

The worlds largest culprit of the release of carbon dioxide is China. In 2011, they

launched 8,715.31 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air. But, right behind them in

second place is the United States, who allowed over 5,000 million metric tons of CO2 to fly into

the air. There are many different ways that these emissions are released. The very beginning of

human sourced carbon dioxide was during the industrial revolution. When the industrial
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revolution began, scientists found that it was more efficient to use fossil fuels, and we had a lot

of them. With the industrial revolution came the need for more space for factories and such in

order to keep up with demand. Which leads to another main cause of build up of carbon dioxide

in the atmosphere, deforestation; because trees create oxygen from carbon dioxide and keep our

planet balanced, when worldwide extreme deforestation began, it started the slow decline of

oxygen to carbon dioxide ratio. This unnatural form of clearing trees could prove to be a deadly

combo with our industries still exponentially growing.

Unlike deforestation, wildfires are a naturally occurring event. Ten percent of all

wildfires are started by lighting or lava. The most interesting part of naturally occurring

wildfires is that it may actually be helping our environment. Studies have shown that wildfires

that are authorized to burn freely revitalize the area. Along with may other benefits, it has shown

that wildfires revive the watershed, renew the soil, and reset the ecosystem clock. Without these

fires our forests would die out because many trees in these forests have adapted to only produce

seeds following a major fire event. Wildfires will also recycle nutrients which in turn increases

food sources for fish, replenish the stream side vegetation, and re-disperse the fire adapted

plants.

However, even with all of these benefits, wildfires can have terrible and sometimes

deadly consequences. There have been a numerous amount of accounts of people or animals

being caught in a wildfire. The most famous of the animal accounts is Smokey the Bear.

Smokey was just a cub when he was caught up in a large fire that covered the Capitan Mountains

of New Mexico. Barely escaping with his life, Smokey received love from everyone around him

to help him heal. He lived for 26 years until his death in 1976, but he remains a legend to this

day. Smokey is the national wildfire icon, and he has helped educate people on how to prevent
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these fires. But, despite his effort, studies have shown that wildfires have increased by five times

sine the 1970s and 80s. Some of these effects of wildfires may not be evident as others, but

each of them change at least one aspect of the world in some small way. It may not be simple to

realize but wildfires can cause homes, wildlife, and vegetation to burn, erosion, air pollution,

serious health problems including cancer as a result of smoke particles too small for the human

respiratory system to filter out, and even a loss of jobs.

As you have read and seen in the duration of this paper, wildfires have a large, direct

impact on our lives, but what impact do small variables have on the wildfire itself? Well, to start

off, a fire is a chemical reaction that requires three things; fuel (anything that can burn), heat

( hot enough to ignite the fuel) and oxygen. Removing any one of these thing would break what

is called, the fire triangle and would end the fire. A triangle seems pretty simple, but there is a

little more to it than that. First of all, the amount and type of fuel determines the strength and

duration of the fire. Little things such as, dead branches, filled leaves, pine needles, grasses, etc.

would be considered kindling, and burn very easily and quickly. They do not make a very long

lasting fire or a very warm one but it is easily started. Climate is another factor, climate found in

places like the Mediterranean, California coasts, Chile, and Australia, are the perfect playground

for a wildfire because they have an exotic wet season that causes intense growth followed by a

dry season that causes the newly grown crops to wither and dry out to become tinder. Climate

also controls how readily the tinder will burn, if the area does not dry out, like a rain forrest, the

plants are not going to burn as well. However, in a desert, vegetation would much more readily

burn. You must also consider topography, and the weather. If the wildfire were to occur in a

setting of hills and high winds, it would burn very quickly over a wide area. However, if it were
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to burn in a large valley with almost no wind at all, the fire would have a slow burn, as air is a

leg of the triangle, the more that is available to the fire the better it is going to burn.

All in all, wildfires are a very interesting topic. There are so many different factors that

contribute to the fire before and after. Humans can be the causes of fires, in fact about 90% of

wildfires can be correlated being started by a human, but they can also be ended by a human.

Amazing heroes like firefighters and first responders help keep our planet and homes safe.

However, we need to find a way to help them out, the best and first option would be to slow

down, or stop the creation of harmful carbon dioxide. This alone would change so much, air

would be cleaner, it would slow global warming, and it would allow us to keep our oceans

beautiful. Human caused wildfires have already taken so much from so many people, lets find a

way to help our environment, and our world. Head the advice of Smokey the Bear, Only YOU

can prevent wildfires.

Bibliography
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E. (n.d.). Historical Palmer Drought Indices. Retrieved April 28, 2017, from
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/drought/historical-palmers/psi/192004-
197003

Wildfires, Weather & Climate. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2017, from
https://www2.ucar.edu/news/backgrounders/wildfires-weather-climate

(n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2017, from

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/page5.php

Main sources of carbon dioxide emissions. (2017, April 11). Retrieved April 28, 2017,
from http://whatsyourimpact.org/greenhouse-gases/carbon-dioxide-emissions

Story of Smokey | Smokey Bear. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2017, from
https://smokeybear.com/en/smokeys-history/story-of-smokey

(www.dw.com), D. W. (n.d.). How climate change is increasing forest fires around the
world | DW Environment | DW.COM | 11.08.2016. Retrieved April 28, 2017, from
http://www.dw.com/en/how-climate-change-is-increasing-forest-fires-around-the-world/a-
19465490

Causes, Effects and Solutions to Wildfires. (2016, December 24). Retrieved April 28,
2017, from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-and-solutions-of-
wildfires.php