DRI scientists deployed to Los Angeles to collect ash, soil, and dust samples from burn zones in the hopes of illuminating the unique risks of wildland-urban fires. These urban fires presented a unique opportunity to understand how materials like plastics, metals, and even lithium batteries from electric cars can transform into environmental contaminants when they burn.
Hans Moosmuller, Ph.D., joins two Chilean scientists from the Center for Environmental Technologies (CETAM) of the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria on an expedition to Antarctica’s Unión Glacier, located just a thousand kilometers from the South Pole.
Mercury is deposited from the atmosphere into forests worldwide in greater quantities than previously thought, according to new research led by former Desert Research Institute (DRI) scientist Daniel Obrist (currently with University of Massachusets, Lowell) and a team that included Hans Moosmüller of DRI in Reno.
After a wildfire, soils in burned areas often become water repellent, leading to increased erosion and flooding after rainfall events.