#Bushfire

A dry landscape and a dire season: we explain the current bushfire environment

Sydney and New South Wales (NSW) north coast residents continue to battle poor air quality as a result of fires burning through the state. Our bushfire expert Andrew Sullivan delves beyond the smoke haze to explain the current crisis and the tough conditions ahead.

Climate change and extreme events – quantifying the changing odds

The field of climate change event attribution research has emerged recently and can provide new insights into Australian climate extremes.

When disasters collide: helping Australia adapt to new risks under climate change

A collision of severe weather events can destroy lives and infrastructure, destabilising economies and ecosystems. In a rapidly warming world the frequency and magnitude of these compound events will only increase, according to the latest report from the IPCC.

SMOG gets students into STEM

A DIY gadget for detecting smoke has enabled primary school students to play detective and track down problems in the air around them.

Sowing the idea of a seed database

Most plant research focuses on grown plants or on seedling behaviour. It is only now that researchers are beginning to examine seed traits and how the beginning of a plant’s life affects everything which comes after.

Raising hope out of ashes of the Tathra bushfire

Out of the ashes of the Tathra bushfire, and stories of heartbreaking loss and survival, a picture is emerging of how research is helping to save properties and improve bushfire outcomes.

Soils study key to tracing PFAS leaching

They’re one of the strongest bonds in chemistry and are not only unique in the way they can be used to fight fire, but unique in the way they leach through soils into the environment. A new paper suggests understanding first how PFAS chemicals behave in soils requires a large-scale soils study and, perhaps, a global research effort if we’re to work towards a solution.

Experimenting with fuel and fire

A lot has been learned about fire behaviour from the bushfires that have lashed the Australian continent in the past. But to really refine fire behaviour knowledge, researchers need to put their hypotheses to the test through carefully orchestrated large-scale field experiments.

Up in smoke

In 2006, when fires broke out near Cape Grim, Tasmania, scientists measured the smoke plumes in unprecedented detail, resulting in a more accurate smoke forecasting tool for use in weather forecasting, and for issuing health-related smoke warnings.