Final Report Supplement - Joint Fire Science Program

Zotero Report zotero://report/items/520446_XG98FERT-520446_89BHQIMS-520446...
URL http://hol.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/5/597
Extra Keywords: fire history; dendrochronology; climate; fire scars; El Niño-Southern Oscillation; Pacific Northwest
USA.
Date Added Monday, August 29, 2011 5:30:07 PM
Modified Monday, August 29, 2011 5:34:29 PM
Anthropogenic reduction of Santa Ana winds
Type Conference Paper
Author Mimi Hughes
Author Alex Hall
Author Jinwon Kim
Abstract The frequency of Santa Ana wind events is investigated within a high-resolution downscaling of the European
Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ERA-40 reanalysis data to 6-kilometer resolution over Southern
California. In this climate reconstruction, the number of Santa Ana days per winter season declines significantly
over the 44-year reanalysis period, resulting in over 30 percent fewer events per year over the final decade of
the reconstruction (1991–2001) compared to the first decade (1959–1969). This study investigates this signal
further in late-twentieth and mid-twenty-first century realizations of the National Center for Atmospheric
Research Community Climate System Model, version 3.0, global climate change scenario run downscaled to a
12-kilometer resolution over California. The reduction in events per year in the mid-twenty-first century
compared with the late-twentieth century is similar to that seen in the ERA-40 downscaling, suggesting the
cause of the decrease is a change in the climate due to anthropogenic forcing. A regression model is used to
reproduce the Santa Ana time series based on two previously documented forcing mechanisms: synopticallyforced
strong offshore winds at the mountain tops (which transport offshore momentum to the surface), and a
local desert-ocean temperature gradient causing katabatic-like winds as the cold desert air pours down the
coastal topography. Both past and future climate simulations show a large reduction in the contribution of the
local thermodynamic forcing. This reduction is due to the differential warming that occurs during transient
climate change conditions, with more warming in the desert interior than over the ocean. Thus the mechanism
responsible for the decrease in Santa Ana frequency originates from a well-known aspect of the climate
response to increasing greenhouse gases, but cannot be understood or simulated without mesoscale atmospheric
dynamics.
Date August 2009
Proceedings Title Proceedings of the American Geophysical Union 2008 Fall Meeting
Conference Name American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 15-19 December 2008
Place Los Angeles, CA
Publisher California Energy Commission, California Climate Change Center
Pages 29 p.
URL http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AGUFMGC22A..05H
Archive http://www.energy.ca.gov/2009publications/CEC-500-2009-015/CEC-500-2009-015-F.PDF
Extra Keywords: regional climate; climate change; Santa Ana winds; fire weather; Southern California.
Date Added Monday, August 29, 2011 5:30:07 PM
Modified Monday, August 29, 2011 5:30:07 PM
Application of economic techniques to fire management - A status review and evaluation
Type Report
Author Julie K. Gorte
Author Ross W. Gorte
Abstract no abstract
Report Number GTR lNT-53
Report Type General Technical Report
Place Ogden, UT
Institution U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station
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