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.
- end -
text-only version of this release | 
