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MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – State and federal firefighters are working on a wildland fire in the Yolla Bolly Wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest.

The Henthorne fire was estimated at 291 acres and 5-percent containment on Friday evening.

Officials said the Henthorne fire was first reported at 8 a.m. Thursday, and is located approximately 15 miles northeast of Covelo in Trinity County.

Cal Fire, along with units from the United States Forest Service, responded. Due to the remote location of the fire, there was an extended response time.

With the assistance of aircraft, hand crews, and local government strike teams from Mendocino and Sonoma counties, progress was made overnight and into Friday, officials said.

The cause is so far undetermined.

The fire is being managed under unified command by the Mendocino National Forest and Cal Fire.

There are 329 resources on the incident including 11 crews, 24 engines, four helicopters, five dozers and eight water tenders.

Crews are working in remote, steep, rugged terrain with limited access into the fire area.

At this time, there is no threat to structures or civilians.

Observed fire behavior includes torching and spotting through heavy dead and down timber and brush. The fire is spreading westerly toward state land.

The forecast shows a cooling trend over the weekend with the potential for breezy southerly winds.

The fire is expected to be fully contained on Sept. 14, officials said.

The California Legislature on Friday approved a wildfire-inspired proposal from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would help low-income people who rely on life-support equipment to receive backup power during electric transmission line de-energization.

“Clearly, we must protect vulnerable people who rely on critical-care equipment as climate change drives up our fire risk,” said Sen. Dodd, who previously represented Lake County in the Assembly. “My bill says that before utilities can shut off the power to prevent an inferno, they must develop plans to ensure the health and safety of those who are most defenseless.”

Senate Bill 167 comes in response to plans to prevent wind-driven wildfires by power line de-energization.

More than 150,000 critical care customers are served by the state’s three largest utilities. Many live in households with incomes 200 percent below the federal poverty level.

SB 167 would require utilities to submit plans to the California Public Utilities Commission for supporting these low-income customers during temporary power shutoffs.

The bill cleared the Senate and Assembly with unanimous, bipartisan support and heads next to Gov. Gavin Newsom for a signature. It is backed by the California Fire Chiefs Association and Marin Clean Energy, among others.

“SB 167 is needed to ensure emergency back-up power is available to operate life-support systems for those citizens requiring such equipment during power outages,” said Russell Noack, who represents both the California Fire Chiefs Association and the Fire Districts Association of California.

It is one of seven wildfire-related bills introduced by Sen. Dodd this year. His legislation would protect elders from abandonment during emergencies, ensure fairness for those dealing with insurance agents, establish a statewide wildfire warning center, protect the state budget from unexpected emergency response costs and ensure the clearing of vegetation near utility lines and homes.

Dodd represents the Third Senate District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Yolo, Sonoma, Solano, Sacramento and Contra Costa counties.

A key tracer used to estimate how much atmosphere Mars lost can change depending on the time of day and the surface temperature on the Red Planet, according to new observations by NASA-funded scientists.

Previous measurements of this tracer – isotopes of oxygen – have disagreed significantly. An accurate measurement of this tracer is important to estimate how much atmosphere Mars once had before it was lost, which reveals whether Mars could have been habitable and what the conditions might have been like.

Mars is a cold, inhospitable desert today, but features like dry riverbeds and minerals that only form with liquid water indicate that long ago it had a thick atmosphere that retained enough heat for liquid water – a necessary ingredient for life – to flow on the surface.

It appears that Mars lost much of its atmosphere over billions of years, transforming its climate from one that might have supported life into the desiccated and frozen environment of today, according to results from NASA missions such as MAVEN and Curiosity and going back to the Viking missions of 1976.

However, many mysteries about the Red Planet’s ancient atmosphere remain. “We know Mars had more atmosphere. We know it had flowing water. We do not have a good estimate for the conditions apart from that – how Earthlike was the Mars environment? For how long?” said Timothy Livengood of the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Livengood is lead author of a paper on this research published online in Icarus Aug. 1.

One way to estimate how thick the original atmosphere of Mars was is to look at isotopes of oxygen. Isotopes are versions of an element with different mass due to the number of neutrons in the atomic nucleus. Lighter isotopes escape to space faster than heavier isotopes, so the atmosphere that remains on the planet gets gradually enriched in the heavier isotope.

In this case, Mars is enriched compared to Earth in the heavier isotope of oxygen, 18O, versus the lighter and much more common 16O. The measured relative amount of each isotope can be used to estimate how much more atmosphere there was on ancient Mars, in combination with an estimate for how much faster the lighter 16O escapes, and assuming that the relative amount of each isotope on Earth and Mars was once similar.

The problem is that measurements of the amount of 18O compared to 16O on Mars, the 18O/16O ratio, have not been consistent. Different missions measured different ratios, which results in different understandings of the ancient Martian atmosphere.

The new result provides a possible way to resolve this discrepancy by showing that the ratio can change during the Martian day.

“Previous measurements on Mars or from Earth have obtained a variety of different values for the isotope ratio,” said Livengood. “Ours are the first measurements to use a single method in a way that shows the ratio actually varying within a single day, rather than comparisons between independent devices. In our measurements, the isotope ratio varies from being about 9 percent depleted in heavy isotopes at noon on Mars to being about 8 percent enriched in heavy isotopes by about 1:30 p.m. compared to the isotope ratios that are normal for Earth oxygen.”

This range of isotope ratios is consistent with the other reported measurements. “Our measurements suggest that the previous work all may have been done correctly but disagreed because this aspect of the atmosphere is more complex than we had realized,” said Livengood. “Depending where on Mars the measurement was made, and what time of day on Mars, it is possible to get different values.”

The team thinks the change in ratios during the day is a routine occurrence due to ground temperature, in which the isotopically heavier molecules would stick to cold surface grains at night more than the lighter isotopes, then are freed (thermally desorb) as the surface warms up during the day.

Since the Martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2), what the team actually observed were oxygen isotopes attached to carbon atoms in the CO2 molecule. They made their observations of the Martian atmosphere with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, using the Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Winds and Composition developed at NASA Goddard.

“While trying to understand the broad spread in estimated isotope ratios that we retrieved from the observations, we noticed that they were correlated with the surface temperature that we also obtained,” said Livengood. “That was the insight that set us on this path.”

The new work will help researchers refine their estimates of the ancient Martian atmosphere. Because the measurements can now be understood to be consistent with the results of such processes in other planets’ atmospheres, it means they are on the right track for understanding how the Martian climate changed.

“It shows that the atmospheric loss was by processes that we more or less understand,” said Livengood. “Critical details remain to be worked out, but it means that we don’t need to invoke exotic processes that could have resulted in removing CO2 without changing the isotope ratios, or changing just some ratios in other elements.”

The research was funded by the former NASA Planetary Astronomy Program, now the NASA Solar System Observations Program. NASA is exploring our Solar System and beyond, uncovering worlds, stars, and cosmic mysteries near and far with our powerful fleet of space and ground-based missions.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday, participants in this weekend’s Clear Lake Seaplane Splash In began arriving in Lakeport, with this year’s event to feature activities and seminars for young people designed to draw attention to career opportunities in aviation.

The 40th annual Splash In takes place Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Natural High School, 810 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

On Thursday afternoon, planes piloted by Ray Arceneaux and Steve Hamilton were among the first to arrive in Lakeport for the event.

They will be joined by another two dozen planes from in and around California.

The Clear Lake Modelers will have many of their sea and land airplane models on display as well as a simulator where visitors may try their hand at flying a model. The club members will answer questions and demonstrate how to build models.

A sound system covering the entire field will be in place so everyone on the field can hear what’s going on including the pilot briefing at 9:30 a.m., what planes are there and descriptions of aerial demonstrations over the lake later in the day. Seaplane rides over Clear Lake with two commercially licensed pilots will be available for purchase.

This year’s field marshall this year is Ray Shipway of Shipway Aviation, assisted by Lee Cook, a long time Splash In volunteer.

Shipway will oversee the Scouts of Sea Scout Ship unit 711 as they direct planes entering and leaving the field. The Sea Scouts camp on site from Friday through Sunday; they and their leaders do 24-hour security for the field.

Unlike many fields where jobs are disappearing, career prospects in aviation are bright. Boeing’s CEO, Dennis Muilinberg, noted at the Paris Air Show last month that there will be a need for 800,000 new pilots in the next 20 years, and that there will be a severe pilot shortage.

The Splash In features seminars that could be useful to high school students and their parents in learning about career opportunities in aviation.

A seminar entitled “You Can Be a Pilot” takes place at the Natural High School in Lakeport at 11 a.m. Saturday, and a seminar entitled “Career Opportunities in Aviation” takes place at 2 p.m.

In addition, Steve Bateman, director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Flying Clubs Initiative, will present “Maximum Fun, Minimum Cost: How to Start and Run a Flying Club” at 10 a.m.

“You Can Be a Pilot” is a fast paced, inspirational session designed to increase awareness that obtaining a pilot certificate is a realistic and achievable objective.

“The Career Opportunities in Aviation” seminar examines the exciting prospects for young people in aviation. In addition to outlining the specific careers available in aviation, the career opportunities seminar presents details about the high school curriculum for aviation education that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association makes available at no cost to high schools.

Professional pilots, mechanics, avionics technicians and flight instructors will be on hand to answer questions that students and parents may have.

“It’s important that students in the Lake County school system become aware of the career opportunities in aviation, including jobs as aviation mechanics, avionics technicians, corporate, airline and military pilots and aerial photographers. The career opportunities seminar enables them to learn about those opportunities,” said Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, which is presenting the event.

Lake County high schools used to have aviation classes, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association high school curriculum is being taught in a number of California high schools.

Kevin Soto, a Boeing 747 pilot for the United Parcel Service, said, “The aviation program at Lower Lake high school back in the 1970s made me aware of the opportunities in aviation. Those classes were invaluable to my path to becoming a Boeing 747 pilot for UPS.”

“I saw firsthand the beneficial impact that teaching aviation had on some of the students in my classes,” said retired high school teacher, Miles Turner, who is a pilot and used to teach the aviation classes at Kelseyville High School.

Dan Dye, who is a retired chemist, pilot, former aircraft owner and substitute high school teacher in Lake County, said, “I have no doubt that an aviation curriculum at one or more of Lake County’s high schools would open doors to career opportunities many students are simply not aware of now.”

“A Lake County-based flying club can complement a high school aviation curriculum by reducing the cost of flying for students, giving them opportunities to fly with other club members and to become involved in aircraft building projects sponsored by the club,” said Herb Lingl, the education director of the Clear Lake Flying Club.

In addition to accommodating seaplanes by providing a ramp for access to the Lakeport waterfront, the Splash In provides a chance for the public to see seaplanes first hand and interact with seaplane pilots.

The Splash In attracts a wide variety of different types of seaplanes. More details about this year’s Splash In are available at www.clearlakesplashin.com.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild presents Lisa McKissick as the featured artist at the guild’s 18th annual Falling Leaves Quilt Show.

The show will be held in two buildings, Fritch Hall and Little Theatre, at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.

Show hours are Saturday, Oct. 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Lisa McKissick is an award-winning quilter, carrying on a 125-year family tradition of quilting.

McKissick learned the art of quilting from her mom and sister. She is an expert in machine piecing, machine applique and paper piecing.

McKissick is an extraordinary quilt teacher having taught several hundred quilting classes and well over 2,500 students. She is an exciting and humorous lecturer and a talented pattern designer and developer.

She lives in Petaluma, is married, has three children and they all quilt. Her mission is to teach as many people as possible to quilt!

You will find McKissick working part-time at a quilt shop in Sonoma, where she teaches and is a buyer of fabric, notions and quilting supplies. She regularly attends Quilt Market to find the latest and greatest quilting notions and tools.

One of her lectures is “Tool Time,” featuring her favorite tools and corresponding quilts. She will have her favorite arsenal of rulers, cutters, marking devices and a number of exceptional gems for sale at her booth.

McKissick will be present Saturday and Sunday to talk with guests and present demonstrations at the quilt show.

More information on McKissick and her quilts can be found at http://cosmoquilts.com.

Presale tickets are available for $8 cash at the Clearlake and Lakeport Chamber of Commerces and at Village Sewing in Ukiah. For more information, contact Barbara Haddon at 415-209-3044.

More information can be found at http://www.LLQG.org/quilt-show.html.

Suzanne Lee is publicity chair for the Falling Leaves Quilt Show.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Highlands Senior Center is inviting community members to come "kick up your heels for senior meals" as they hold their annual benefit dinner/dance on Saturday, Sept. 14.

The event will take place at the Clearlake Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.

Doors open at 5 p.m., with a no-host bar provided by the Lakeshore Lions Club.

Dinner, catered by Chatterbox Catering will be served starting at 6 p.m.

Advance tickets for this event are $35. Tickets are available at the Highlands Senior Center. You can also call ahead and reserve your tickets for will call and purchase by credit card.

Businesses and fraternal organizations can also become sponsors by purchasing a table for the event.

All proceeds from the dinner/dance go toward the Highlands Senior Center's Meals on Wheels program, as well as other programs and activities at the senior center.

For more information on the benefit dinner/dance, or on other programs and activities that the the Highlands Senior Center offers, please call 707-994-3051 or drop by the office at 3245 Bowers Ave.