Project Grant 2623550

The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded The Trustees of Princeton University $924,171 on September 1, 2026, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to develop comprehensive fire activity maps and datasets spanning the last 22,000 years for improved fire modeling and management.

Princeton will synthesize published paleofire literature into a multiproxy dataset covering fire activity since the last glacial maximum, produce definitive time series and maps of historical fire regimes, and evaluate fire model intercomparison projects against these extended observational records. The work addresses the current limitation that fire models are primarily benchmarked against only modern satellite records, limiting confidence in predictions of future fire regime change. Princeton will also generate new paleofire records and apply novel methods to better resolve past fire regimes in regions with sparse existing data coverage.

The project runs through August 31, 2030, with place of performance at Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton will engage directly with fire managers across three continents to inform ecological prescribed fire management and provide training in international collaborative research to the next generation of fire scientists. The Geosciences program supports fundamental research to strengthen the national scientific enterprise through expanded knowledge of the integrated Earth system across atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences.