Wildfires can be bad. Now they can be worse.

 

New research indicates that wildfires release more air pollution, in the form of smoke and the accompanying toxic gases, than previously thought. 

The updated estimate is an increase of 20% or so, and it is primarily in the form of un-estimated volatile organic compounds. But for a big wildfire, that can be a lot more smoke and associated stuff nobody wants to breathe.

Wildfires Could Emit More Air Pollution Than Previously Estimated

"Each year, large swaths of forests, grass and peat burn in wildfires, releasing a complex mix of water vapor, ash and carbon-based compounds into the air. Some of these carbon-based compounds are gases called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Others that evaporate and turn into gases at warmer temperatures are known as intermediate- and semi-volatile organic compounds (IVOCs and SVOCs, respectively). And in the air, these partially-volatile compounds form fine particles — pollutants that can be harmful if breathed in — more easily than VOCs."

"However, most studies assessing wildland fire emissions overlook IVOCs and SVOCs because of their large number, which makes it hard to measure these compounds. Researchers led by Shuxiao Wang wanted to take IVOCs and SVOCs emissions along with VOCs into consideration to offer better insight into wildland fires’ impact on air quality, health and climate."

That's a direct quote.  First question, what does "large number" mean?  I have my suspicions, but I have to look in the actual article. So I did. And I think my suspicion was wrong. I thought the large number might be molecular weight, but I think it's saturation vapor concentration.  I.e., the VOCs fully volatilize, reaching their maximum saturation vapor concentration, but the IVOCs and SVOCs don't, so it's harder to estimate or measure how much of them is in the smoke.

I'm not sure of that. But the bottom line is that more organic compounds are released by wildfires, so that the total amount, the sum of VOCs, IVOCs, and SVOCs, is more than the previous estimates, which was just based on VOCs.

If you want to know more, the reference is below, and you can try to contact the researchers.

REFERENCE: Huang L, Zhao B, He Y, et al. Global wildland fire emissions of full-volatility organic compounds from 1997 to 2023. Environmental Science and Technology 2025:acs.est.5c10217. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c10217

Psst:  You can actually read the full paper here, if you are so inclinated.

And remember, where there's fire, there's usually smoke.

Who played Varang?

 

If you've seen Avatar: Fire and Ash (I did), perhaps you're wondering what actress was behind the character of Varang, the leader of the ash clan, the Mangkwan.  Varang has two roles in the clan, both the leader/chief, and also the high priestess / spiritual leader.

Enough about that. The actress is Oona Chaplin, Charlie's granddaughter, who was seen in most of her entirety in Game of Thrones before she had a particularly bad experience at a wedding banquet.

So, below, Varang and her Game of Thrones character, Talisa Maegyr/Stark.

Ocean, ocean, who's got an ocean?

 

Scientific American reports on the search for subsurface oceans on some of the moons of the Solar System. They may be harder to find (if they exist) than earlier thought.

New Views of Solar System Moons Complicate Ocean Worlds Theory

The article discusses two research papers about Saturn's unique moon Titan and Jupiter's white-cold moon Europa.  Titan might be less interesting than previously thought, with a slushy interior rather than an actual hydrocarbon ocean.  Europa probably still has an ocean, but it may be a lot harder to drill down to reach, considering that it might be 20 miles or so under the surface.

"New observations of Europa gathered by NASA’s Juno mission, however, suggest that the ice shell is on the thicker side of scientists’ estimates, closer to 20 miles deep—although the exact depth depends on the ocean’s saltiness.

“There have been theoretical arguments, but this is the first pretty much direct physical measurement,” says Steven Levin, project scientist of the Juno mission and an astrophysicst at JPL.

That calculation is based on data from Juno’s microwave radiometer, an instrument that was designed to peer deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere but that is now turned toward analyzing the planet’s largest moons’ internal structure, too. Remarkably, the measurement was based on only about five minutes of data because of the constraints of the Juno spacecraft’s existing orbit around Jupiter, Levin notes."

But we do have a mission that will be there in 2030, the Europa Clipper, and a European mission that will be there a year later.  It will be interesting to see what these missions can determine.

It's down there somewhere.

If you play golf

 

I'm a sucker for these lists of the "Best of [ Something ] in Each State".  So even though I don't play golf, I do enjoy watching it, particularly a close tournament, because of the nerviness involved.

This list of top golf courses in each state thus caught my interest. 

The Best Golf Course in Each State

Since I'm in Maryland, I naturally checked to see which course in Maryland was picked. It's the Bulle Rock course in northeastern Maryland, just inland from Havre de Grace. I've been near it.

The introduction indicates that these courses are accessible to the public, because there are likely great (and with accompanying exorbitant membership fees) private courses.   For example, how is the best course in California NOT Pebble Beach?  Or in Georgia, wouldn't Augusta National be the number one run of 18 holes?   So if you play, these are playable and your wallet might survive the experience.

Two other notes:  The course picked in Wisconsin is in the middle of the rural center of the state, which might mean it's not too hard to get a tee time.  The private Whistling Straits course on the shore of Lake Michigan north of Sheboygan might be the overall best course.

Two, there is a lot of great scenery around these courses. The Divide Ranch & Club in Colorado stands out in this category. It also happens to be just a little north of the mining towns Ouray and Telluride.

A view from the course:

Lick gets licked (a little)

 

Back around Christmastime, a big storm blew into California. One of the more notable sights of damager was the Lick Observatory, up in the mountains above San Jose. 

This video shows some of what happened. Hopefully, soon it will be back looking at the stars, and I hope budget cuts don't keep it from that operation.

News indicates it's going to take awhile to get it up and running, and as I write this, they're protecting it from more storms.

This is quoted from the article:

"Built in the 1880s and in continuous use for nearly 140 years, the 36-inch Great Refractor was once the largest telescope of its kind and still anchors the observatory’s education and public-viewing programs. The pause in tours and public nights is a stark reminder of how vulnerable century-old instruments can be on an exposed mountain and why teams are racing to shield the telescope before any more storms roll through, according to the San Francisco Chronicle."

The Great Refractor is shown below. I learned while finding a picture of it that it is currently the largest refracting telescope currently in operation, as the largest, the 40-inch refractor at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, is currently not operational and may never be restored to operation. 

Lighthouse of the Week, February 1-7, 2026: Faro de Cabo de Ajo, Spain

 

Yes, I know I'm a bit behind in my blog posting. So this is the start of my comeback.  I searched for "multi-color lighthouse", and this one showed up.  Clearly it is what I searched for.

So, this is the Faro de Ajo or the Faro de Cabo de Ajo, located in Cantabria on the northern coast of Spain, near Santander and to the west of Bilbao.  If that's not enough to locate it for you, click here.

This is what the Lighthouse Directory says, in part:

"1985 (station established 1930). Active; focal plane 71 m (233 ft); white light occulting three times (2 s each) every 16 s. 14 m (46 ft) cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and double gallery, rising from a circular 1-story base. Lighthouse originally painted white; lantern dome is gray metallic. ... This handsome modern tower, designed by Fernando Rodríguez Pérez, was one of the first new lighthouses built under the Plan de Señales Marítimas 1985-89. In 2020 the lighthouse was painted in bright colors in an intricate design by the artist Okuda San Miguel".

Here's another page on it, with some close-up pictures: An artist has turned this Spanish lighthouse into a colourful work of art

Certainly if you're reading this, you want to see pictures right here, so they are under this line.

Before and after

How old is Peter Coyote?

 

In the previous post I mentioned The American Revolution series on PBS. I watched the credits and  discovered it was (still) being narrated by the super-narrator Peter Coyote.  Since he's been doing that for a long time, I wondered how old he is.  Turns out Peter is 84.

This is somewhat what he looks like around the time of now.