April 2007

Posted April 9, 2007

Exploring Fire, Climate, and Culture

Kansas City, Missouri, April 5, 2007 � Recently, we have read or heard the latest reports about the impact of fossil fuel emissions on global warming. We have become aware of what vehicle emission can do. But, how many of us think about the impact of fire on global warming? Probably not many. Perhaps it is time to consider the issue. Dr. Charles Umbanhowar will discuss the results of his research on the relationship between fire and climate and when he presents �Exploring Fire, Climate, and Culture: Reconstructing the Past and Present from Lake Sediments in Western Mongolia�%F���%F�� on Thursday, April 12%, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. in the Main Reading Room of the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology.

Possible connections between fire and global warming are receiving more attention as large fires become increasingly common in the western United States and elsewhere in the world despite efforts to suppress burning over the last 100 years.

In many areas of the world, charcoal from wildfires ends up being deposited in lake sediments and is then preserved for thousands of years. Information from these charcoal deposits is a record of past burning. These deposits can be used to help answer questions about the past, present, and future links between fire and climate.

Dr. Umbanhowar will focus his talk on his field work conducted between 2004-2005 in western Mongolia. He explored the hypothesis that fire intensity and frequency is positively correlated with precipitation-differences in steppe vegetation productivity in semi-arid grasslands.

To set the stage for discussion of his areas of research Dr. Umbanhowar will present an introduction to the landscape and people of western Mongolia and brief introductions to the science of fire, lake coring, and paleoecology.

Umbanhowar will discuss the initial results of his research and will compare those results with the results of fire research on grasslands in other parts of the world.

Mark your calendar for this important discussion! Find out where the most fire-prone areas are and what is causing the rise in large fires. Be at the Linda Hall Library on Thursday, April 12, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. in the Main Reading Room for the second lecture of the 2007 Linda Hall Lecture Series.

The library is the world�s largest privately funded library of science%2, engineering and technology open to the public. It is located at 5109 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Missouri. Library hours are Monday, 9:00 a.m. � 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m.; and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. � 4:00 p.m. For more information about the library or the Linda Hall Lecture Series see the library's web page at www.lindahall.org or contact Kathy Alshouse at 816-926-8727.