Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050

Wildfires throughout western North America produce smoke plumes that can stretch across the agricultural regions of the American Midwest. Climate change is likely to increase the number and size of these fires and subsequent smoke plumes. These smo...

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Main Authors: Behrer, Arnold Patrick, Wang, Sherrie
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/412661646340432785/Current-Benefits-of-Wildfire-Smoke-for-Yields-in-the-US-Midwest-May-Dissipate-by-2050
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37106
id okr-10986-37106
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-371062022-03-10T05:10:49Z Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050 Behrer, Arnold Patrick Wang, Sherrie IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBAL LAND CARBON SINK CLOUD FORMATION EXPOSURE TO SMOKE SEVERE DROUGHT IMPACT ON YIELD METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES Wildfires throughout western North America produce smoke plumes that can stretch across the agricultural regions of the American Midwest. Climate change is likely to increase the number and size of these fires and subsequent smoke plumes. These smoke plumes change direct, diffuse, and total sunlight during the crop growing season and consequently influence yields of both corn and soybeans. The analysis in this paper uses a twelve-year panel of county-level yields from all counties east of the 100th meridian combined with measures of exposure to smoke plumes of low and high density during the growing season. It shows that low-density plumes enhance yields, likely by increasing in the fraction of diffuse light, while high-density plumes decrease yields. Because there are more low-density plumes today, the net effect is a slight increase in yields on average. As climate change makes wildfires larger and more frequent, the overall impact of smoke on yields is expected to be substantially more negative. 2022-03-09T18:43:14Z 2022-03-09T18:43:14Z 2022-03-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/412661646340432785/Current-Benefits-of-Wildfire-Smoke-for-Yields-in-the-US-Midwest-May-Dissipate-by-2050 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37106 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research United States
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBAL LAND CARBON SINK
CLOUD FORMATION
EXPOSURE TO SMOKE
SEVERE DROUGHT
IMPACT ON YIELD
METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES
spellingShingle IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBAL LAND CARBON SINK
CLOUD FORMATION
EXPOSURE TO SMOKE
SEVERE DROUGHT
IMPACT ON YIELD
METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES
Behrer, Arnold Patrick
Wang, Sherrie
Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
geographic_facet United States
description Wildfires throughout western North America produce smoke plumes that can stretch across the agricultural regions of the American Midwest. Climate change is likely to increase the number and size of these fires and subsequent smoke plumes. These smoke plumes change direct, diffuse, and total sunlight during the crop growing season and consequently influence yields of both corn and soybeans. The analysis in this paper uses a twelve-year panel of county-level yields from all counties east of the 100th meridian combined with measures of exposure to smoke plumes of low and high density during the growing season. It shows that low-density plumes enhance yields, likely by increasing in the fraction of diffuse light, while high-density plumes decrease yields. Because there are more low-density plumes today, the net effect is a slight increase in yields on average. As climate change makes wildfires larger and more frequent, the overall impact of smoke on yields is expected to be substantially more negative.
format Working Paper
author Behrer, Arnold Patrick
Wang, Sherrie
author_facet Behrer, Arnold Patrick
Wang, Sherrie
author_sort Behrer, Arnold Patrick
title Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
title_short Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
title_full Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
title_fullStr Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
title_full_unstemmed Current Benefits of Wildfire Smoke for Yields in the US Midwest May Dissipate by 2050
title_sort current benefits of wildfire smoke for yields in the us midwest may dissipate by 2050
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2022
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/412661646340432785/Current-Benefits-of-Wildfire-Smoke-for-Yields-in-the-US-Midwest-May-Dissipate-by-2050
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37106
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