FIRES

Chairs: Paolo Cristofanelli – Mara Baudena

Although vegetation fires have been a natural process regulating ecosystems for hundreds of millions of years, today they represent a risk factor exacerbated by ongoing climate change, deforestation and land use. Fires are often considered as local or regional phenomena, but their impact, also in terms of emission of climate-altering species and pollutants, can have a global connotation.

The main aim of this group is to create a context for scientific discussion on the topic of ‘fires’, fostering cross-fertilisation between different skills, methodological approaches, themes of activities already existing in CNR-ISAC. In particular, this working group aims to encourage the consolidation of interactions between people (and therefore between the initiatives participated by ISAC) working on this topic, hopefully leading to a stronger collaboration and to the identification of common topics to be investigated.

The ‘Fires’ working group links different expertise ranging from the study of ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity and air quality, to Earth observation by means of remote sensing techniques (ground-based and satellite) and in situ measurements (both of trace gases and atmospheric particulate matter). The group’s expertise also includes the development and application of atmospheric transport models, climate models and systems for risk assessment.

The working group participants are involved in national and international contexts such as: ECOSISTER (PNRR, Mission 4 – Component 2 – Investment 1.5), ITINERIS ( PNRR; Mission 4 – Component 2 – Investment 3.1), NBFC (Spoke 4: thematic table ” Wildfires and biodiversity), ICOS, ACTRIS.

The working group’s discussion activities focus on several topics, including the influence of vegetation fires on air quality and atmospheric composition (greenhouse gases, reactive gases and atmospheric particulate matter), the study of feedbacks between fires – vegetation and the relationship between fires – biodiversity, the analysis of meteorological and environmental conditions promoting the fire risk, and the development of innovative methodologies and technologies for fire prevention and early warning systems.

The group’s activities are developed through a series of meetings during which the participants present their research, share new scientific results and disseminate useful information on funding opportunities, events of interest (conferences, workshops, etc.) and research projects. The working group is open to the participation of guests, either by invitation or spontaneous proposal, maintaining a collaborative spirit and flexible structure that are the group’s distinguishing features.