Environmental Impacts of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface
Webinar Recording, January 31, 2025
How do scientists measure air quality, and what do we know about the air in greater Los Angeles following the January fires?
Experts from Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the University of Colorado Boulder shared information about the environmental hazards of smoke, data collected since the January 2025 fires, and lessons learned from previous similar fires.
Joost de Gouw, Professor of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder
Joost de Gouw is a Chemistry Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). His research is focused on air quality. His group specializes in measurements of organic trace gases in air using mass spectrometry, and they use data from satellite remote sensing instruments to study the distribution and trends in air pollutants and greenhouse gases. De Gouw received his PhD in Physics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and joined the University of Colorado Boulder as a faculty member in 2018 following a career in research with CIRES and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Sina Hasheminassab, Science System Engineer at JPL, specializing in air pollution monitoring and analysis
Sina Hasheminassab is an air quality scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His research focuses on integrating advanced monitoring techniques with data-driven methodologies to study air pollution sources, trends, and their societal impacts. He is a co-investigator on NASA's Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) satellite mission, where he leads its ground-based air quality monitoring subsystem. Hasheminassab holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Haroula Baliaka, Caltech graduate student in environmental science and engineering, will present data from ASCENT, a national monitoring network that measures air pollutants in real time.
Lauriane Quenee, Caltech Senior Director for Environmental Health and Safety
Lauriane Quenee is Caltech's Senior Director of Environmental Health and Safety. She develops and implements safety strategies, ensures compliance with regulations, and fosters a culture of safety. Quenee holds a PhD in microbiology, has years of research experience, and served on the University of Chicago's biosafety team. She joined Caltech in 2016 as its first academically trained biosafety officer. Quenee has strengthened connections across Caltech, built a biosafety program for biology research, enabled research to continue safely during the pandemic, and shaped safety procedures for essential workers on campus.
Francois Tissot, Professor of Geochemistry and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, Caltech
Francois Tissot is a professor of geochemistry at Caltech. He and his research group carry out elemental and isotopic investigations by combining wet chemistry sample preparation in a clean laboratory environment, precise isotopic analyses using advanced instruments, and interpretation of the data using physically based models. His research ranges from cosmochemistry (i.e., the formation and evolution of the solar system), to geochemistry (e.g., reconstructing redox conditions throughout Earth's history), and in recent years has focused on isotope metallomics, a nascent field using stable isotopes to study human health. Tissot holds a PhD from the University of Chicago.
Moderator
Jessica Neu, JPL Assistant Division Manager
Jessica Neu studies what controls the chemical composition of the atmosphere at the regional and global scales and, ultimately, how atmospheric composition and air quality will change with other components of the climate system. She uses a combination of satellite data, in situ measurements, and atmospheric chemistry models to understand how the chemical makeup of the atmosphere is changing with time, with a particular focus on ozone in the stratosphere and troposphere. Neu is the atmospheric composition discipline program manager at JPL. In that role, she supports research and future mission development across the breadth of atmospheric chemistry activities at JPL. Neu holds a PhD in atmospheric sciences from MIT.
This event was co-sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, Resnick Sustainability Institute, and Linde Center for Global Environmental Sciences.
Additional Resources
Recovery and clean-up
- LA County Public Health Virtual Town Hall on Air Quality, Soil, Water, and Safe Cleanup After Wildfires (January 31, 2025)
- How to mitigate post-fire smoke impacts in your home (UC Boulder/CIRES)
- "The Fires: Air Quality, Public Health & What to Do Next" webinar hosted by the Coalition for Clean Air
- City of Pasadena Debris removal program
- My house didn't burn but ash from the L.A. fires fell in my yard. Can I eat from my garden? Is my soil safe? - Los Angeles Times
Coverage related to 2025 LA fires
- Lucy Jones on how communities recover from disasters - Caltech Science Exchange
- Paul Wennberg discusses air quality after the 2025 California fires - Caltech Science Exchange
Includes scientific papers analyzing data from previous fires and the science behind indoor air cleaners. - Caltech Aerosol Monitoring Site Collects Data in Aftermath of Urban Firestorm
- The Science of Post-Wildfire Debris Flows - Watson Lecture with Michael Lamb
Air quality resources
- ASCENT Network real-time air quality data
- AQMD's AQI map
- Fire AirNow
- Purple Air(local, crowd-sourced reports)
- How to build your own air filter: https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/
- Apply for a grant to receive supplies: https://www.cleanairk12.com/
Interested in allowing researchers to perform ash/soil testing on your property near the Eaton Fire? Fill out this Google Form.
This event is presented by the Caltech Science Exchange, which brings expert insight to the scientific questions that define our time. The Science Exchange offers trustworthy answers, clear explanations, and fact-driven conversation on critical topics in science and technology.