Seminar in Atmospheric Sciences

September 25, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Mānoa Campus, MSB 100 (Marine Sciences Building)

Future Climate Change Impact on Wildfire Danger over the Mediterranean Dr. Anastasios Rovithakis Postdoctoral Researcher Convection, Clouds, and Extremes Lab Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Hawaii at Manoa ABSTRACT This presentation examines the impact of climate change on wildfire danger focusing over Greece through meteorological analysis and modeling techniques. It highlights the projected increase in fire risk, particularly in high-risk areas, and the potential for longer fire seasons under more severe climate scenarios. Using models like WRF-Chem and JULES-INFERNO the mechanisms of how wildfire aerosols affect the short-term weather and how changing vegetation dynamics influence future burned areas were explored. The presentation underscores the importance of integrating climate models, satellite data, and adaptive management strategies to address the growing wildfire threats and mitigate their effects on ecosystems, human health, and the economy. BIO Anastasios Rovithakis is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Torri at UH Manoa. He got his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Crete, in Greece. His research is focused on performing statistical analysis on future wildfire danger using the Canadian Fire Weather Index as well as atmospheric modeling with WRF-Chem to see the effects of wildfires in short-term weather. He has also developed a methodology for accurately and automatically selecting smoke plumes from satellites and checked the effects of future vegetation on burnt area with output from a land surface model.As a security precaution, unmuting microphones, starting video, screen share, and using the 'chat' feature will be disabled for those attending the seminar, except for ATMO faculty. If you would like to say something, please use the 'raise hand' feature. The host or a co-host can then enable you to unmute your microphone.


Event Sponsor
Atmospheric Sciences, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Christina Karamperidou, 808-956-2565, ckaramp@HAWAII.EDU, , Rovithakis (PDF)

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