Odwuor quoted on wildfire fuel study; Randerson & Czimzick also involved

AirUCI grad student Audrey Odwuor (Randerson group) took the lead on a study published in Environmental Research Letters determining that one of the chief fuels of wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is the decades-old remains of large trees. "Our findings support the idea that large-diameter fuel build-up is a strong contributor to fire severity," said Audrey.  She drove a mobile laboratory to King's Canyon National Park during the 2021 KNP Complex Fire to take measurements and samples.  These were analyzed for their radiocarbon content at UCI’s W.M. Keck Accelerator Mass Spectrometer facility with co-author and AirUCI faculty Claudia Czimczik.  "The idea is that because we can’t control the climate, we can only do our best to manage the fuels," said Audrey.  Read the article