S3E05 Down to Earth: Dousing Forest Fires in Australia and the Amazon through Geoscience

Similar to Arizona, Australia is no stranger to a hot, dry climate–one that sets a yearly stage for bushfire season. In 2019, Australia experienced one of its worst bushfire seasons to date, with fires consuming swaths of land, causing significant wildlife death, and even burning some of Australia’s remaining rainforest. That same year, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon rainforest experienced a longer dry season than normal. This resulted in a surge in fires that consumed over 17.5 million acres of land. In the face of ongoing global warming, how do we detect and address fire threats to prevent these catastrophes from happening again? In this episode, we speak with two researchers, Dr. Marta Yebra, Senior Lecturer in Environment and Engineering at Australian National University, and Dr. Ane Alencar, Science Director for Institute for Amazonian Environmental Research, to find some answers.