The international association of wildland fire (iawf) and the national wildfire coordinating group (nwcg) smoke committee (smoc) are hosting the 2ND international smoke symposium, november 14-17, 2016…

The international association of wildland fire (iawf) and the national wildfire coordinating group (nwcg) smoke committee (smoc) are hosting the 2ND international smoke symposium, november 14-17, 2016 at the hilton long beach in long beach, california. The 1ST international smoke symposium (ISS) was held in maryland in 2013 and was an overwhelming success. This ISS set the bar for how a conference can have valuable and interactive virtual capabilities that can easily increase international attendance. This 2ND symposium will bring together researchers from atmospheric, the ecological, social, and fire sciences, as well as climatologists, health professionals, smoke responders and others to interactively discuss the complex issues of wildland fire smoke. Gaps in knowledge will be identified and opportunities will be available to discuss innovation and development possibilities; these conversations will be naturally stimulated by the collection of this diverse interdisciplinary group that represents fire science, management, policy and rules and regulatory communities. Management, operational decision-support and policy elements are extremely important to the symposium, particularly when considering the release of the new EPA air quality standards for ozone and the anticipated changes in the exceptional event rule. The symposium aims to address a variety of wildland smoke-related issues, through topics that relate to methods for tracking, modeling and inventory, air quality and health, smoke microphysics and chemistry, social implications, climate effects and repercussions, current and future research needs, and practical field management techniques for smoke. The iawf and nwcg-smoc are committed to partnering with NASA to integrate research that can meet the challenge of the interactive effect of fire and smoke on climate and environmental change into our expanding conferences and training opportunities in order to disseminate NASA science, data and technology to the wildland fire operational professionals and decision makers, including those who work in wildland, military, health and emergency services.