David Battisti (Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, and Tamaki Endowed Chair, University of Washington)

The annual forested area that has burned in the western US has increased markedly in the past 40 years. Here we examine the causes and present 25-year projections of future area burned due to climate change, including the potential for fire-fuel feedbacks to limit future fire area burned.

David Battisti is The Tamaki Endowed Chair of Atmospheric and Climate Science at the University of Washington. His research includes understanding how the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, land and sea ice lead to variability in climate on time scales from seasonal to decades. His previous research includes coastal oceanography, the physics of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, and paleoclimate dynamics. He is presently working to better understand variability in the midlatitude atmosphere/ocean/land system, to develop a physical theory for heat waves and extreme temperatures, and to better understand the monsoons. He is also working on the impacts of climate variability and climate change on global food production in developing countries and on forest fires in the western US.