Enhanced Western U.S. wildfire activity will likely correspond to increasingly frequent air quality degradation at local to continental scales. In recent years plumes of smoke crawling upward from Western wildfires have trended taller, with more smoke and aerosols lifted up where they can spread farther and impact air quality over a wider area. Between 2003 and 2020 in California’s Sierra Nevada region, maximum plume height increased, on average, by 750 ft per year. In other Western U.S. and Canadian regions maximum plume heights increased by an average of 320 ft per year. The likely cause is climate change, with decreased precipitation and increased aridity intensifying wildfire activity.
Story Source: University of Utah
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220727132653.htm