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Media Invited to NASA Google+ Hangout on Wildfire and Climate Change

NASA will host a Google+ Hangout at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 9, about wildfire research and what a changing climate could mean for future fire activity in the United States.

A decades-long record from ground surveys and NASA satellites shows  the fire season in the western United States is starting earlier in the spring and producing larger and more intense fires throughout the summer. Is this a result of climate change, or are other factors involved? How do scientists anticipate a continued increase in global temperatures will influence the number and strength of wildfires?

Panelists for the Google+ Hangout are:

  • Doug Morton, research scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
  • Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
  • Elizabeth Reinhardt, national program leader for fire research, research and development, Office of the Climate Change Advisor, U.S. Forest Service, Washington

The panelists will discuss the 2013 fire season so far, recent trends in U.S. and global wildfires, and what climate projections reveal about potential fire activity in the future.

Journalists who want to ask questions by phone during this Google+ Hangout must provide their media affiliation information to Aries Keck at 301-286-4435 or aries.keck@nasa.gov by 10 a.m. Aug. 9. The Hangout will be broadcast publicly via NASA Goddard’s YouTube and Google+ pages. The Hangout also will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

To join the Hangout, visit:

http://bit.ly/1cgYO1e

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the NASA’s Earth science mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/earth

To view and post questions via Facebook, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/NASA

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Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
Aries Keck
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4435
aries.keck@nasa.gov