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Biomassstory fixes (#2547)
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* fix: corrected link to epa data in story

* chore: fixed date in story
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santilland authored Apr 15, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -138,15 +138,15 @@ In Central Africa, the slash-and-burn agriculture practice combined with the sea

According to the U.S. Forest Service, recent fires have killed from 13 to 19% of the world’s giant sequoias in 2020 and 2021 alone [(31)](https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23092022/california-sequioa-wildfires/). [(32)](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2021-fire-season-impacts-to-giant-sequoias.htm), causing concern in the scientific community that California forests may be nearing a tipping point from wildfires. Giant sequoias evolved to survive and thrive under lightning-ignited wildfires. In fact, the giant trees depend on fire to release the seeds inside their cones and to remove competing trees that would otherwise deprive them of the ample sunlight they need to flourish [(33)](https://150.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27588).

*Map information: EPA Methane Emissions [View dataset](https://www.eodashboard.org/explore?search=US%3A+Field+Burning+monthly+-+EPA+Methane+Emissions+2012&x=-8823681.74165&y=4371273.36061&z=4.35755&poi=Field_burning_Monthly-EPA)*
*Map information: EPA Methane Emissions [View dataset](https://www.eodashboard.org/explore?indicator=EPA_Field_burning_Monthly&x=-10575351.41304&y=4201451.01648&z=3.34556)*

###

However, the increased severity of fires in recent years, fueled by the racing pace of global warming, is threatening the giant sequoias. In 2021 two very large fires, the Kings Canyon National Park “(KNP) Complex Fire ”and the “Windy Fire”, burned in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California in 2021. They had a significant impact on the region's giant sequoia groves, killing thousands of trees. On September 15, 2021 the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 [(34)](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellites/landsat-8/) acquired an imagery of the “KNP Complex fire” - the largest wildfire in California history at the time. The instrument allowed to depict fire fronts beneath the plumes thanks to the thermal signature provided by infrared data [(35)](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148840/fire-encroaching-on-giant-sequoias). Satellite images of the KNP Complex and Windy Fire, both within the Sequoia National Park, were captured by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 17 (GOES-17) [(36)](https://www.goes-r.gov/multimedia/dataAndImageryImagesGoes-17.html), which prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders [(37)](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148878/southern-california-under-smoke).

### <!--{ layers='[{"type":"Tile","properties":{"id":"osm"},"source":{"type":"WMTSCapabilities","url":"https://tiles.maps.eox.at/wmts/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml","layer":"overlay_base_bright_3857"}},{"type":"Tile","properties":{"id":"sequoia"},"source":{"type":"TileWMS","url": "https://services-uswest2.sentinel-hub.com/ogc/wms/6be61090-7d26-4e41-aeaa-1eab79b1bf68","params": {"LAYERS":"TRUE-COLOR","TIME":"2021-09-15"}}}]' center="[-119.5, 36.27]" zoom="10" }-->

The following year, 4800 acres burned from 7th to 40th of July causing road closures for multiple weeks. These fires were part of a larger pattern of wildfires in the western United States, where wildland fires occur more frequently and over a longer period each year as the fire season extends. NASA Earth has been spatializing and mapping wildfires since 1950 [(38)](https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/our-impact/news/washburn-fire-fits-pattern-longer-and-more-frequent-wildfires).
The following year, 4800 acres burned from 7th to 30th of July causing road closures for multiple weeks. These fires were part of a larger pattern of wildfires in the western United States, where wildland fires occur more frequently and over a longer period each year as the fire season extends. NASA Earth has been spatializing and mapping wildfires since 1950 [(38)](https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/our-impact/news/washburn-fire-fits-pattern-longer-and-more-frequent-wildfires).

## Human proximity and resilience <!--{as="img" mode="hero" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eurodatacube/eodash-assets/main/stories/forest_story/trees_city.jpeg"}-->

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