GH009
Characterizing wildland fire smoke: estimating exposure and associated impacts to public health
Characterizing wildland fire smoke: estimating exposure and associated impacts to public health
Session ID#: 249472
Session Description:
Wildland fire, including wildfires (including wildland urban interface fires), agricultural, and prescribed fires, pose significant challenges to air quality and public health. In recent years, increased settlement in fire-prone regions, rises in prescribed burning, and extended exposure to smoke-related pollutants have heightened these concerns. Growing frequency and intensity of wildland fires has implications for public health. One obstacle to studying fire smoke is the difficulty in creating datasets that reflect real-world exposures. Smoke from fire degrades air quality on multiple scales and introduces additional pollutants from the burning of man-made structures. Additionally, little is known about the tradeoffs for human health when considering the use of prescribed burning. We encourage interdisciplinary research to measure and predict wildland fire emissions and impacts on air quality—i.e. innovative techniques for exposure estimation, assessments of population-level impacts, investigations into less-studied health outcomes, and analyses of factors that increase vulnerability at individual and community levels.
Co-Sponsor(s):
- A - Atmospheric Sciences
- GC - Global Environmental Change
- NH - Natural Hazards
- SY - Science and Society
Index Terms:
0230 Impacts of climate change: human health [GEOHEALTH]
0240 Public health [GEOHEALTH]
1610 Atmosphere [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1622 Earth system modeling [GLOBAL CHANGE]
Primary Convener: Jennifer Stowell, Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, United States
Conveners: Dr. Miriam E Marlier, PhD, Columbia University, New York, United States, Minghao Qiu, Stanford University, Stanford, United States and Tina Liu, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Student/Early Career Convener: Claire Schollaert, Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, United States
See more of: GeoHealth