Research Interests

I study interactions between the biosphere and atmosphere, focusing on relationships between fire emissions from land use change and air quality. This research combines satellite-derived fire estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database and atmospheric modeling to estimate the added public health burden of biomass burning products, such as particulate matter and ozone. Our goal is to understand which regions are most susceptible to transported fire emissions and to quantify short and long-term population exposure.

Academic Background

I received my undergraduate degree in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Environmental Sciences from UCLA with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society. I also spent more than two years at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory studying various applications of remote sensing for measuring tropical forest structure and biomass.

Current Research

Publications

Marlier, M.E., DeFries, R.S., Voulgarakis, A., Kinney, P.L., Randerson, J.T., Shindell, D.T., Chen, Y. and Faluvegi, G. El Niño and health risks from landscape fire emissions in Southeast Asia. Nature Clim. Change 3, 131–136 (2013).

Johnston, F.H., Henderson, S.B., Chen, Y., Randerson, J.T., Marlier, M., DeFries, R.S., Kinney, P., Bowman, D.M.J.S., and Brauer, M. Estimated Global Mortality Attributable to Smoke from Landscape Fires. Environ. Health Perspect. 120, 695–701 (2012).

Saatchi, S.S., Marlier, M., Chazdon, R.L., Clark, D.B., and Russell, A.E. Impact of spatial variability of forest structure on radar estimation of aboveground biomass in tropical forests. Remote Sens. Environ. 155, 2836-2849 (2011).

Chen, Y., Randerson, J.T., Morton, D.C., DeFries, R.S., Collatz, G.J., Kasibhatla, P.S., Giglio, L., Jin, Y. and Marlier, M.E. Forecasting Fire Season Severity in South America Using Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies. Science 334, 787–791 (2011).

Yackulic, C., Fagan, M., Jain, M., Jina, A., Lim, Y., Marlier, M., Muscarella, R., Adame, P., DeFries, R., and Uriarte, M. Biophysical and socioeconomic factors associated with forest transitions at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Ecol. Soc. 16, 15 (2011).