scholarly journals A 229-year dendroclimatic-inferred record of forest fire activity for the Boreal Shield of Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin P. Girardin ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Jacques C. Tardif ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Mike D. Flannigan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Occurrence Rate ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Boreal Shield

Six independent tree-ring reconstructions of summer drought were calibrated against instrumental fire data to develop a 229-year dendroclimatic-inferred record of fire activity (annual area burned and fire occurrence) on the Boreal Shield, Canada. As a means of validating the statistical reconstructions of the fire activity, a comparison was made with a stand age distribution derived from a regional time-since-last-fire map for an area located at the transition between the mixedwood and coniferous boreal forests of south-western Quebec. Calibration statistics indicated that 31% of the area burned variance and 45% of the fire occurrence variance could be accounted for by the six drought reconstructions. The verification statistics indicated a tendency for the statistical reconstructions of the fire activity to reproduce with confidence both high and relatively low frequency variations in fire. Episodes of succeeding years with important fire activity were estimated for 1789–1796, 1820–1823, 1837–1841, 1862–1866, 1906–1912, 1919–1922, 1933–1938, and 1974–1977. Also estimated were periods of reduced forest fire activity, particularly in the occurrence rate of extreme fire years, from c. 1850 to 1900 and again during the second half of the 20th century. Correlation analysis between the statistical reconstruction of the area burned and the stand age distribution suggested that both proxies shared similar information on the fire activity. Correlation maps, however, indicated that variability in the statistical reconstructions was not necessarily representative of fire activity in all regions of the Boreal Shield.

Climate Change and Forest Fire Activity in North American Boreal Forests

2000 ◽  
pp. 368-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Stocks ◽  
Michael A. Fosberg ◽  
Michael B. Wotton ◽  
Timothy J. Lynham ◽  
Kevin C. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
North American ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fire Activity

Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike D. Flannigan ◽  
Meg A. Krawchuk ◽  
William J. de Groot ◽  
B. Mike Wotton ◽  
Lynn M. Gowman
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
General Increase ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Linear Interactions

Wildland fire is a global phenomenon, and a result of interactions between climate–weather, fuels and people. Our climate is changing rapidly primarily through the release of greenhouse gases that may have profound and possibly unexpected impacts on global fire activity. The present paper reviews the current understanding of what the future may bring with respect to wildland fire and discusses future options for research and management. To date, research suggests a general increase in area burned and fire occurrence but there is a lot of spatial variability, with some areas of no change or even decreases in area burned and occurrence. Fire seasons are lengthening for temperate and boreal regions and this trend should continue in a warmer world. Future trends of fire severity and intensity are difficult to determine owing to the complex and non-linear interactions between weather, vegetation and people. Improved fire data are required along with continued global studies that dynamically include weather, vegetation, people, and other disturbances. Lastly, we need more research on the role of policy, practices and human behaviour because most of the global fire activity is directly attributable to people.

scholarly journals Drought Modulated Boreal Forest Fire Occurrence and Linkage with La Nina Events in Altai Mountains, Northwest China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunming Shi ◽  
Ying Liang ◽  
Cong Gao ◽  
Fengjun Zhao ◽  
Qiuhua Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
La Nina

Warming-induced drought stress and El Nino associated summer precipitation failure are responsible for increased forest fire intensities of tropical and temperate forests in Asia and Australia. However, both effects are unclear for boreal forests, the largest biome and carbon stock over land. Here we combined fire frequency, burned area and climate data in the Altai boreal forests, the southmost extension of Siberia boreal forest into China, and explored their link with ENSO (El Nino and South Oscillation). Surprisingly, both summer drought severity and fire occurrence have shown significant (P<0.05) teleconnections with La Nina events of the previous year, and therefore provide an important reference for forest fire prediction and prevention in Altai. Despite a significant warming trend, the increased moisture over Altai has largely offset the effect of warming-induced drought stress, and lead to an insignificant fire frequency trend in the last decades, and largely reduced burned area since the 1980s. The reduced burned area could also benefit from the fire suppression efforts and greatly increased investment in fire prevention since 1987.

scholarly journals Coupling between the North Atlantic subpolar gyre vigor and forest fire activity in northern Scandinavia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tine Nilsen ◽  
Dmitry V. Divine ◽  
Annika Hofgaard ◽  
Andreas Born ◽  
Johann Jungclaus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Subpolar Gyre ◽  
The North ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Gyre Circulation

Abstract. The circulation strength of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre varies on a range of timescales, it regulates the northwards oceanic heat transport and influences weather and climate over Scandinavia. We test the hypothesis that persistent atmospheric circulation anomalies favorable for extensive forest fire activity in the northern Scandinavian boreal region are predominantly associated with weaker subpolar gyre strength on subannual timescales. We included both winter and summer drought as important precursors for forest fire occurrence in the boreal region. Three ensemble members of climate model simulations covering the time period 850–2005 AD are considered. Years of widespread and severe drought in northern Scandinavia are identified using the monthly drought code as a summer-drought indicator, and winter drought is identified as the 5th percentile of coldest and driest winters. The statistical significance of anomalous ocean- and atmospheric circulation is tested for these years, both during and prior to the main fire season. Analysis of the ensemble of three simulations did not yield a generalized result, hence the hypothesis cannot be confirmed for subannual timescales. For the three simulations we find respectively that the fire-prone years are associated with subpolar gyre circulation that is on average stronger, weaker or insignificantly changed compared with the mean state. The 5th percentile of most extreme dry and cold winters has a strong relation to the winter North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), but not with the gyre circulation state. We find a number of extremely cold/dry winters occurring during the Little Ice Age (LIA, 16th–19th centuries AD), and infer that winter drought may have played a significant role in promoting forest fire activity at this time. Our results highlight the importance of resolving the past fire seasonality in the northern Scandinavian domain, and developing compound drought indicators for winter and spring.

Deriving stand age distribution in boreal forests using SPOT VEGETATION and NOAA AVHRR imagery

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 405-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanfa Zhang ◽  
Goran Pavlic ◽  
Wenjun Chen ◽  
Rasim Latifovic ◽  
Robert Fraser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Noaa Avhrr ◽  
Avhrr Imagery

Mapping the Location of Wildfires in Alaskan Boreal Forests Using AVHRR Imagery

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
NHF French ◽  
ES Kasischke ◽  
LL Bourgeau-Chavez ◽  
D Berry
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Avhrr Data ◽  
Avhrr Imagery

The results of a study using satellite imagery to map boreal forest fires in Alaska in 1990 and 1991 are presented. Composite AVHRR data detected more than 80% of fires greater than 2000 ha in size. Additionally, using a two season method, 78% of the area of all boreal forest fires in Alaska was mapped. This technique is considered to be an accurate way to detect forest fire scars and estimate area burned throughout the boreal forests, and could be very important in those regions where wildfire data are presently difficult or impossible to gather.

scholarly journals Assessment of Forest Fire Rating Systems in Typical Mediterranean Forest, Crete, Greece

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Elhag ◽  
Slivena Boteva
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Pinus Halepensis ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Area Burned

Abstract. The Fire Weather Index (FWI) module was tested under the Mediterranean- type conditions of Crete (Greece) for the two fire seasons 2008–2009. High correlations were found between the Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC) and the Duff Moisture Code (DMC. The Drought Code (DC) was insignificantly correlated with the soil moisture content. No significant correlation was found between the area burned by wildfires and any component of the FWI system during the studied period, unlike fire occurrence with which most of the components were highly correlated. Meanwhile, the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) of the American Forest Fire Danger Rating System (NFFDRS) was also examined under the same conditions. It provided a useful means of monitoring general wetting and drying cycles, but is inadequate for indicating daily fire danger throughout the fire season in our region. Weak correlations between the KBDI- the fire occurrence and the area burned were found for the two fire seasons studied-2008–2009. Correlations between the KBDI and litter, duff and soil did not give statistically sound results. On the contrary, the KBDI seemed to predict with high accuracy the moisture content of three annual plants (Piplatherum miliaceum, Parietaria diffusa, Avena sterillis) with a shallow rooting system of Pinus halepensis forest understory in the region. This indicated that the index was adequate, to a certain extent, to represent the upper soil layers' water status, while it is unsuitable to predict needles moisture content of Pinus halepensis, which has a deep rooting system.

scholarly journals Multiscale variation in drought controlled historical forest fire activity in the boreal forests of eastern Fennoscandia

2017 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Aakala ◽  
Leena Pasanen ◽  
Samuli Helama ◽  
Ville Vakkari ◽  
Igor Drobyshev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Historical Forest

scholarly journals Preceding Fall Drought Conditions and Overwinter Precipitation Effects on Spring Wildland Fire Activity in Canada

Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Chelene Hanes ◽  
Mike Wotton ◽  
Douglas G. Woolford ◽  
David L. Martell ◽  
Mike Flannigan
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Drought Conditions ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
The Impact

Spring fire activity has increased in parts of Canada, particularly in the west, prompting fire managers to seek indicators of potential activity before the fire season starts. The overwintering adjustment of the Canadian Fire Weather Index System’s Drought Code (DC) is a method to adjust and carry-over the previous season’s drought conditions into the spring and potentially point to what lies ahead. The occurrence of spring fires is most strongly influenced by moisture in fine fuels. We used a zero-inflated Poisson regression model to examine the impact of the previous end of season Drought Code (DCf) and overwinter precipitation (Pow) while accounting for the day-to-day variation in fine fuel moisture that drives ignition potential. Impacts of DCf and Pow on area burned and fire suppression effectiveness were also explored using linear and logistic regression frameworks. Eight fire management regions across the boreal forests were analyzed using data from 1979 to 2018. For the majority of regions, drier fall conditions resulted in more human-caused spring fires, but not in greater area burned or reduced suppression effectiveness. The influence of Pow was much more variable pointing to the conclusion that Pow alone is not a good indicator of spring drought conditions.

Forest fire occurrence and climate change in Canada

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Wotton ◽  
C. A. Nock ◽  
M. D. Flannigan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
In Fire

The structure and function of the boreal forest are significantly influenced by forest fires. The ignition and growth of fires depend quite strongly on weather; thus, climate change can be expected to have a considerable impact on forest fire activity and hence the structure of the boreal forest. Forest fire occurrence is an extremely important element of fire activity as it defines the load on suppression resources a fire management agency will face. We used two general circulation models (GCMs) to develop projections of future fire occurrence across Canada. While fire numbers are projected to increase across all forested regions studied, the relative increase in number of fires varies regionally. Overall across Canada, our results from the Canadian Climate Centre GCM scenarios suggest an increase in fire occurrence of 25% by 2030 and 75% by the end of the 21st century. Results projected from fire climate scenarios derived from the Hadley Centre GCM suggest fire occurrence will increase by 140% by the end of this century. These general increases in fire occurrence across Canada agree with other regional and national studies of the impacts of climate change on fire activity. Thus, in the absence of large changes to current climatic trends, significant fire regime induced changes in the boreal forest ecosystem are likely.

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