Studies by Cira and Lee find wildfire impacts marine waters
Smoke over the Santa Monica beach during 2018 California wildfires. Image by Jiroe (Matia Rengel) / Unsplash.
“Wildfires don’t stop at the coastline,” Christine Lee writes on LinkedIn. Christine co-authored two papers examining the impacts of the Woolsey Fire on Southern California coastal waters.
Marisol Cira led the 2022 paper in Scientific Reports, which found that turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria in recreational marine waters increased following the 2018 Woolsey Fire.
A 2025 paper in Earth and Space Science found that “integrated remote sensing, in situ monitoring, and SWAT hydrological modeling showed coastal turbidity increased 4x during the first post-fire storm, with discharge up to 1.8x higher than similar non-fire years,” Christine explained.
As wildfire magnitude and severity increase, it is critical to learn more about the effects of wildlife on coastal waters. These papers take steps toward improving our understanding of the possible cascading effects, and aim to inform effective management and conservation initiatives.
Find Christine on LinkedIn if you’re working in this area or interested in collaborating!
Citations:
Cira, M., Bafna, A., Lee, C.M. et al. Turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria in recreational marine waters increase following the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Sci Rep 12, 2428 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05945-x
Lopez, A. M., Meshesha, T. W., Lee, C. M., Mohammed, I. N., Hestir, E. L., Harmon, T. C., & Avouris, D. M. (2025). Post-wildfire sediment fluxes and turbidity plumes in a coastal-draining Watershed. Earth and Space Science, 12, e2024EA003843. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA003843
