NCAR's Peggy LeMone reflects on the power of fire in the Rocky Mountain West and on her own encounter with a destructive wildfire that torched more than 100 homes in September 2010.

On December 20, 2008, a Boeing 737 with Continental Airlines encountered a crosswind gust during takeoff at Denver International Airport, causing it to veer off the runway. Simulations done at NCAR indicate that a mountain lee wave amplified over DIA within minutes of the accident.

The wildfire that erupted in the foothills west of Boulder in September 2010 sent a thick plume of smoke right over NCAR’s chemistry labs. Even as their offices smelled of smoke, scientists took measurements from the roof.

Scientists have detected "starspots," on the surface of a star using stellar seismology. The technique offers the potential to examine hundreds of stars.

The new research has implications for satellite orbits.