This summer, several research activities were carried out both in the field and in the laboratory to investigate the impacts of wildfires. In Japan, two French Master’s students who received funding through the JSPS Summer Program, Ingrid Lykke and Benjamin Delvincourt, conducted fieldwork in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, together with Professor Wakiyama, Deputy Director of MITATE Lab. They worked at the experimental site instrumented by Professor Igarashi of the University of Tsukuba.
The Ofunato wildfire, which occurred in 2025, was the largest wildfire recorded in Japan since the 1960s. Particular attention is being paid to its impact on the transfer and redistribution of radionuclides deposited in the region following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, as well as to the redistribution of metals whose concentrations are particularly high in the ash.
Photos taken during the field mission in the burned forests of Ofunato, Japan, in July 2026
In France, climate change is also putting temperate forests increasingly at risk from wildfires. In July 2026, for example, fires following an exceptional drought burned approximately 10% of the area of the Fontainebleau Forest, near Paris. An exploratory field mission was carried out in August 2026 to collect soil, sediment and ash samples. This research will contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of wildfires in areas that had previously been relatively spared from fire.
Photo of exploratory soil, sediment and ash sampling carried out in the burned area of the Fontainebleau Forest, near Paris, France, in August 2026
