See the World Through Science

Wildfires

Natural Disasters
A Wildfire Map for the Czech-German Border, Tested on the People Who Would Use It
In late July 2022, a fire set deliberately in the sandstone gorges of the Czech Elbe country began to move north. It burned into August, crossed an international border, and left two national park…
By Anna Kotlyar2 days ago5 min read
Natural Disasters
The Thirst of the Air: What Drove Europe's Worst Fire Year Since 2006
In the first week of April 2025, moorland in western and northern Britain was burning, weeks before the start of the fire season in southern Europe. By August, Galicia had suffered the largest…
By Anna Werner1w ago4 min read
Natural Disasters
The Wildfire Yardstick That Climate Models Can't Read, and the Neural Net That Rebuilds It
The Fire Weather Index has a quiet dependency that trips up almost everyone who tries to use it in a climate model. To do the arithmetic the way it was designed, you need the temperature, humidity,…
By Olga Schmidt3w ago4 min read
Environment
Fire and Fertilizer Push Alaskan Tundra the Same Way, at Different Speeds
Tussock tundra looks, from the air, like a lumpy green carpet. Up close it is something more particular: a dense mat of mosses and lichens with sedge tussocks rising out of it, a community that…
By Andreja Jezernik4w ago5 min read