Situation for Los Angeles fires It’s not sustainable. It is estimated that more 16,000 hectares of land and they died at least 25 people. And all this is not counting the countless material damages. The wind isn’t helping, and firefighters no longer know where to get enough water to put out the flames. So they resorted to a desperate measure: use sea ​​water for fire extinguishing.

At first glance this seems like a great solution. He Pacific Ocean It is a stone’s throw from the Los Angeles fires and contains a huge amount of water. From this point of view, it is even surprising that this did not occur to them earlier. But if they didn’t do this, there was a good reason for it, since sea water can be double edged sword.

On the one hand, yes, there is a lot of it and it will be useful to put out the flames. But, on the other hand, it can cause long-term damage to the affected forests. Considering losses due to fire or possible damage from salt water, firefighters finally opted for what appears to be lesser evil Meanwhile, plant physiology scientists are not losing sight of the results of their desperate experiments.

Why hasn’t seawater been used before in the Los Angeles fires?

Salt water is harmful to plants for the same reason that people should not drink sea water. Cells, whether plant or animal, always tend to have same salt concentration in its internal and external environment. This is what is known as osmotic balance. To achieve this goal they strive lose or absorb water as needed. For example, if the concentration of salts inside the cells is higher, they absorb water from the external environment. Thus, the salts are diluted inside and concentrated outside. On the other hand, if there is a higher concentration of salts outside, the opposite happens: the cells lose water, diluting the outside and concentrating their inside.

When all this happens with a small amount of water, there is no risk to the cells. On the other hand, if they need to lose or gain a lot of water to equalize the salt concentration, they can dry out or swell until it bursts.

If we water a plant with salty seawater, the external environment becomes saturated with salt, so the plant needs to lose its own water to equalize the concentration. This, of course, can lead to drying out. In addition, it has been observed that seawater can contribute to soil erosion.

So far, seawater has not been used to fight fires in Los Angeles because the salt can expose forest plants to stress perhaps not as terrible as fire, but still very dangerous. In the end there was no choice. The process has already started, and many scientists have focused all their senses on analyze the results.

It’s not just about the fire

One of the scientists who is very knowledgeable about what firefighters do, as he explains in an article for Talkis Patrick Megonigalbelonging Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. He and his team have been working on an experimental farm since 2022 specifically to test the effects of salt water on forests. And fire, like the Los Angeles fires, isn’t the only thing that can expose vegetation to salt water.

He climate change causing alarming sea level rise. There are more extreme weather events. The resulting storm can cause large waves that push seawater off the coast into places where plants have never been exposed to it. There are plants that are quite capable of withstanding salt water because they are adapted, but this is not the case.

A project developed by Megonigal and his team called BOOM, It all started in June 2022, when scientists took water from a nearby bay and pumped it into 10 o’clock imitating effect storm wave. Interestingly, they did not observe any harmful effects on the plants in their experimental forest plot. There was hope.

The experiments were carried out in an experimental forest plot. Credit: Kazuend (Unsplash)

Everything was going well when in June 2023 they decided to repeat the procedure, this time during 20 o’clock. Almost all the plants remained untouched. We only noticed that poplars absorb water from the soil somewhat more slowly. But nothing too serious. However, when in June 2024 they rose to 30 hours everything started to get worse. The poplar leaves had dried up long before this, and in mid-September the forest canopy became bare, as if winter had already arrived.

On another experimental farm, exactly the same process was repeated year after year, but with fresh water, and problems with pumping during 30 hours. It was clear that sea water was causing damage to the forest.

Why did things get worse in 2024?

Scientists have two hypotheses about the origin of these accelerated changes in the forest. On the one hand, it is true that at the mouth from which water was extracted, river and sea water mix, therefore salt concentration It is not as high as the ocean. The soil may have had to be heavily saturated for the damage to be noticeable.

But, on the other hand, it is important to emphasize that in 2024 great drought in the experimental area. In previous years, rainwater could wash salt out of the soil, and drought meant it accumulated more easily and longer.

California fires, Santa Ana winds
The firefighters made this decision out of desperation. Photo: Manuel F. Guerrero, US Marine Corps.

What does this mean for the Los Angeles fires?

American firefighters expect to pour at least 1,500 gallons of water onto the fires in Los Angeles. This is equivalent to more than 5600 liters. Drought continues to prevail in the affected area, so widespread plant damage such as Megonigal’s team observed cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, there was no other choice, so we can only hope that the lesser evil is not so terrible. These California forests are already suffering enough.

Source: Hiper Textual

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