Cooling Fires

November 22, 2006

Forest fires can threaten homes and property, but now a University of Florida study suggests forest fires may actually help cool down the atmosphere. For years environmentalists have worried that when a forest burned, the carbon released from the trees would increase atmospheric temperatures and UF botanist Ted Schuur says that’s what he expected to find.

Schuur: “What we found was exactly the opposite, where if more of these forests were younger because the fire cycle occurred more frequently, the climate would become cooler.”

Scientists say older and denser forests tend to absorb light from the sun, which increases temperatures. Younger trees mean the sun’s light and warmth can hit the ground and spread around.

Schuur: “When that forest burned, it was replaced by deciduous trees, these birch trees that had much lighter leaves and that reflected a lot more of the sun’s energy. So that, in combination with the fact you removed the tree cover and there was more snow in the springtime, resulted in the fire actually cooling down the climate rather than heating it up through carbon emissions.”

So ironically, forest fires may have a positive effect on global warming.

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