Christine Wiedinmyer is an American atmospheric chemist who is research scientist in the Atmospheric Chemistry Division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. She has a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Wiedinmyer developed the Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN), "a high resolution global fire emissions model now used by local, regional, and global chemical modelers to better quantify the impacts of fire emissions on atmospheric composition, both in hindsight and forecast model applications." She used the model to estimate that the

2010 Russian wildfires The 2010 Russian wildfires were several hundred wildfires that broke out across Russia, primarily in European Russia, the west in summer 2010. They started burning in late July and lasted until early September 2010. The fires were associated w ...

liberated 22 teragrams of

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

, though this amount was less than the cumulative carbon monoxide emissions of 2012 and 2003. Wiedinmyer discovered that in the long run, controlled burning of forests will produce up to sixty percent less

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

emissions compared to the full-fledged wildfires they prevented. Undergrowth will be destroyed by the controlled burns while carbon-rich mature trees survive. Without removing the undergrowth, wildfires can quickly escalate out of control using the undergrowth as fuel, and then burn down mature trees as well. Wiedinmyer is also a co-founder of the

Earth Science Women's Network Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

(ESWN).

References

External links

Christine Wiedinmyer's expert profile on the UCAR websiteList of Christine Wiedinmyer's publications, ResearchGate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiedinmyer, Christine Living people 21st-century American chemists Atmospheric chemists Tulane University alumni Cockrell School of Engineering alumni American women chemists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women scientists