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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 12 OctOber 2019

In this Oct. 1, 2019 photo made available by NASA, a Northrop
Grumman L-1011 Stargazer aircraft takes off from Vandenberg
Air Force Base in Calif.
Associated Press

NASA launches

satellite to explore Super scoopers make drops on the Saddleridge fire in Placerita Canyon near Newhall, Calif., Fri-
day, Oct. 11, 2019.
Associated Press
where air meets space With warming, get used to

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. be caused by just the sun.
(AP) — NASA launched a Hurricanes, tornadoes and blackouts to prevent wildfires
satellite on Thursday night other extreme weather
to explore the mysterious, conditions on Earth are also
dynamic region where air adding energy, she noted. By SETH BORENSTEIN property like those that of human ignitions," Balch
meets space. The more scientists know, AP Science Writer plunged PG&E into bank- said. "People provide the
The satellite — called Icon, the better spacecraft and WASHINGTON (AP) — Ex- ruptcy. ignitions for 84% of our na-
short for Ionospheric Con- astronauts can be pro- pect more preventative "Power shutdowns, that's tion's wildfires. And it's not
nection Explorer — rock- tected in orbit through im- power blackouts in Califor- pretty dramatic. It's very ef- just downed power lines
eted into orbit following proved forecasting. nia as the climate gets hot- fective. It's overkill," Flanni- that cause sparks. Camp-
a two-year delay. It was The refrigerator-size Icon ter and drier and the wild- gan said. "It's a trend." fires, burning debris, driv-
dropped from a plane fly- satellite will study the air- fire season gets nastier and Flannigan said there is ing off the side of the road,
ing over the Atlantic off the glow formed from gases longer, scientists say. some build-up of certain electrical equipment, and
Florida coast. in the ionosphere and also The Golden State already trees and plants as fuel, fireworks are all ways that
Five seconds after the measure the charged en- is fire-prone with lots of dry but that's usually not a big we start fires."
satellite's release, the at- vironment right around the plants and woodlands — problem. "It's just fire weath- Fire season is getting lon-
tached Pegasus rocket ig- 360-mile-high (580-kilome- but add high winds that er is getting more severe," ger in California, stretching
nited, sending Icon on its ter-high) spacecraft. can knock down psbor- he said. "Fuels are drier, into October when there
way. The ionosphere is the "It's a remarkable physics eower lines or cause them which means more fuel to are now not only hot, dry
charged part of the up- laboratory," said principal to spark, then watch out, burn. The more fuel to burn fuels, but strong winds from
per atmosphere extend- scientist Thomas Immel of wildfire experts say. means more intense" fires. the mountains that knock
ing several hundred miles the University of California, The darker outlook hits The area burned in Califor- power lines down and trig-
(kilometers) up. It's in con- Berkeley, which is oversee- close to home for Stanford nia wildfires has increased ger the fires, said University
stant flux as space weather ing the two-year mission. University climate scien- fivefold from 1972 to 2018 of Utah fire science expert
bombards it from above He added: "Icon goes tist Chris Field, who like so and that's been "driven by Philip Dennison.
and Earth weather from where the action is." many others had his elec- drying of fuels promoted The key, said Field of Stan-
below, sometimes disrupt- A NASA satellite launched tricity cut off Thursday by by human-induced warm- ford, is the time between
ing radio communications. last year, Gold, is also study- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ing," according to a June the start of the high winds
"This protected layer, it's ing the upper atmosphere, "At this point we don't have study in the scientific jour- and the start of winter rain-
the top of our atmosphere. but from much higher up. a better option for reduc- nal Earth's Future. storms. If it takes too long,
It's our frontier with space," More missions are planned ing risk than shutting elec- Summer "warm season" the fire potential worsens.
said NASA's heliophysics di- in coming years to study tricity off," Field said. "It's days in California have in- These types of winds —
vision director, Nicola Fox. the ionosphere, includ- better than having a whole creased in temperature by called Santa Ana in South-
Fox said there's too much ing from the International community burn down." 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees ern California but more
going on in this region to Space Station.q Mike Flannigan a professor Celsius) in the past century, properly called downslop-
of wildland fire at the Uni- the study said. ing because they also oc-
versity of Alberta in Can- "Mostly we see a strong cur in Northern California
ada, said "the new reality" summertime effect," study — historically have caused
is that there will be more co-author Jennifer Balch, power lines to arc and start
fires with drier and hotter a fire scientist at the Univer- fires, said Robyn Heffernan,
weather from man-made sity of Colorado, said in an the fire weather science
global warming. So he said email. "But warmer temper- meteorologist for the Na-
power shutdowns like those atures in the fall also dry out tional Weather Service.
by California utilities are fuels and make big, wind- The winds that come down
more likely to happen to driven wildfires more likely." mountains warm and dry
try to avoid catastrophic "Power outages are just a out and the speed increas-
fires with losses of lives and band-aid on the problem es, Heffernan said.q