For Release: April 3, 1997
Catherine E. Watson
(757) 864-6122
Release No. 97-022
Fire and Global Change: A Hot New Environmental
Issue
The burning of the world’s forests and grasslands
contributes to deforestation, the extinction of species, acid rain
and global warming. On Tuesday, April 8, at 2 p.m. at the NASA
Langley H.J.E. Reid Conference Center, Dr. Joel Levine will discuss
the environmental importance of understanding the effects of global
biomass burning.
A media briefing with Levine will take place at 1:00 p.m. in the
Reid Center. Levine will repeat his biomass burning lecture at 7:30
p.m. that evening at the Virginia Air & Space Center (VASC)
, Hampton.
According to Levine, a senior research scientist at NASA
Langley, global burning is overwhelmingly human-initiated and has
increased significantly over the last few decades. Recent satellite
measurements performed at NASA Langley and elsewhere indicate that
global burning is much more widespread and extensive than
previously believed.
Scientists at NASA Langley have been at the forefront of
research on global burning, using satellites to assess the extent
of the burning, and sampling and analyzing the gases and
particulates produced by biomass burning in a variety of diverse
ecosystems.
Levine has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brooklyn
College of the City University of New York, and a master’s
and doctorate in aeronomy and planetary atmospheres from the
University of Michigan. Levine serves as the principal investigator
on global burning investigations supported by both NASA and the
Global Change Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Levine has authored or co-authored more than 125 scientific papers
and edited four books on global change, atmospheric chemistry and
global burning. He is an adjunct professor of applied science and
physics at the College of William and Mary.
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