Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

These scientists are setting a forest on fire — and studying it with drones

Data from the blaze in Utah could improve models of how wildfire smoke spreads.
  1. Alexandra Witze
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Sometime in late June, if all goes to plan, a helicopter will hover above a thickly forested slope in Utah and set it ablaze. The goal is to clear out dead conifer trees to allow quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) to regain a foothold in this high-altitude national forest. But the blaze could also help scientists better understand wildfires.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 569, 610 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01604-w

References

  1. Prichard, S. et al. Atmosphere 10, 66 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Stocks, B. J., Alexander, M. E., & Lanoville, R. A. Can. J. For. Res. 34, 1543–1547 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links