| Library / English Dictionary |
WILDFIRE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A raging and rapidly spreading conflagration
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("wildfire" is a kind of...):
conflagration; inferno (a very intense and uncontrolled fire)
Context examples:
A combination of factors is at play: desertification of the Asian continent, which allows more dust to be carried on the wind; combustion, especially from wildfires; factory outputs; and wind patterns across the North Pacific Ocean.
(North Pacific Ocean fertilized by iron in Asian dust, National Science Foundation)
Making wastewater treatment plants energy independent would not only cut electricity use and emissions but also make them immune to blackouts — a major advantage in places such as California, where recent wildfires have led to large-scale outages.
(Researchers develop technology to harness energy from mixing of freshwater and seawater, National Science Foundation)
Part of last year’s jump was attributable to El Nino, the cyclical Pacific Ocean warming that produces extreme weather across the globe, causing terrestrial ecosystems to lose stored CO2 through wildfire, drought and heat waves.
(South Pole is last place on Earth to pass global warming milestone, NOAA)
In addition to the El Portal Fire of July, 2014, in Yosemite National Park, California, the team has studied 22 other large wildfires in the western U.S.
(Researchers discover how wildfires create their own weather, National Science Foundation)
Remote lakes in a perpetually ice-free area of Antarctica show not only the chemical signature of ancient wildfires, but also some much more recent evidence of fossil-fuel combustion.
(Antarctic lakes are a repository for ancient soot, NSF)
Wildfires swept the landscape during arid regimes and reshaped the vegetation available for plant-eating animals.
(Big dinosaurs steered clear of the tropics, NSF)
For the past twenty-five years, spotted owl habitat preservation has focused on keeping 70% or more of the total ground area covered by natural tree canopy, a tree density that leaves forests prone to wildfires and trees more likely to die during droughts.
(Researchers find preserving spotted owl habitat may not require a tradeoff with wildfire risk after all, Wikinews)
Scientists working close to the line of wildfires are obtaining a new understanding of the fires' smoke plumes.
(Researchers discover how wildfires create their own weather, National Science Foundation)
Brines in the lake bottoms retain DBC whose woody signature indicates the source is likely to have been burning — such as wildfires and other natural events — at lower latitudes as many as 2,500 years ago or more.
(Antarctic lakes are a repository for ancient soot, NSF)
In a study, scientists from the University of California, Davis; USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station; and University of Washington have found a way to resolve the conflict that has sprung up between protecting forests from increasingly frequent wildfires and droughts and preserving sufficient habitat for the endangered spotted owl, Strix occidentalis.
(Researchers find preserving spotted owl habitat may not require a tradeoff with wildfire risk after all, Wikinews)
