The Science of Bushfire and Recovery – understanding future risks and managing recovery.
Media Release, Monday 20 April 2009
The science behind Victoria’s recent bushfires will be discussed at a forum at the University of Melbourne this week. The Melbourne School of Land and Environment will host a public forum as part of the Bushfire Recovery Initiative (BRI). The forum will address critical scientific issues including climate change, understanding the risks and management of bushfires, bushfire behaviour and the implications for our catchments and streams.
“The experience of the Victorian fires has left the community with questions about the science of bushfires. This forum is a very deliberate action to move the debate along from the generic and anecdotal debate about bushfires, by presenting the science of these important events, to inform for the future.” said the forum’s convenor Professor Snow Barlow from the School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne.
Professor David Karoly from the School of Earth Sciences will discuss how the record heatwaves and prolonged drought could be linked directly to climate change. He will explain how the combination of these factors with the wind speed and low humidity on the day produced the unprecedented “fire danger index” that led to such extreme fire storm behaviour.
Dr Kevin Tolhurst from the School of Land and Environment will discuss our scientific understanding of fire behaviour prediction and what the predicted effects of climate change are likely to have on fire frequency and severity. He will show how the dynamic nature of bushfires needs a more complex computation framework to model bushfires and report on some recent advances that have been made in this area as part of the Bushfire CRC research program.
The last topic in the forum will be the potential impacts of these events on future catchment yields and water quality for water supplies, presented by Dr Patrick Lane from the School of Land and Environment. He will explain how fire can change the amount and quality of water from catchments, and the timeframe of potential impacts.
Forum details: The Science of Bushfire and Recovery
When: Tuesday 21 April 2009 at 5.30pm.
Where Theatre A, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, the University of Melbourne, Parkville
For further information please visit www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au.
For more information:
Professor Snow Barlow
Professor of Horticulture and Viticulture
Associate Dean (Strategic Relationships)
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
Mobile: 0407 251 574
Email: s.barlow@unimelb.edu.au
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