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Research papers on Wildfires and climate change

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  1. Observed Impacts of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Wildfire in California

    Park Williams, John T. Abatzoglou, Alexander Gershunov, et al. · 2019 · Earth s Future · 1,090 citations

    Abstract Recent fire seasons have fueled intense speculation regarding the effect of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire in western North America and especially in California. During 1972–2018, California experienced a fivefold increase in annual burned area, mainly due to more than an eightfold increase in summer forest‐fire extent. Increased summer forest‐fire area very likely occurred due to increased atmospheric aridity caused by warming. Since the early 1970s, warm‐season days warmed by approximately 1.4 °C as part of a centennial warming trend, significantly increasing the atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD). These trends are consistent with anthropogenic trends simulated by

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  2. Adapt to more wildfire in western North American forests as climate changes

    Tania L. Schoennagel, Jennifer K. Balch, Hannah Brenkert–Smith, et al. · 2017 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 769 citations

    Wildfires across western North America have increased in number and size over the past three decades, and this trend will continue in response to further warming. As a consequence, the wildland–urban interface is projected to experience substantially higher risk of climate-driven fires in the coming decades. Although many plants, animals, and ecosystem services benefit from fire, it is unknown how ecosystems will respond to increased burning and warming. Policy and management have focused primarily on specified resilience approaches aimed at resistance to wildfire and restoration of areas burned by wildfire through fire suppression and fuels management. These strategies are inadequate to add

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  3. Changing wildfire, changing forests: the effects of climate change on fire regimes and vegetation in the Pacific Northwest, USA

    Jessica E. Halofsky, David L. Peterson, Brian J. Harvey · 2020 · Fire Ecology · 640 citations

    Abstract Background Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana, USA) have been immense in recent years, capturing the attention of resource managers, fire scientists, and the general public. This paper synthesizes understanding of the potential effects of changing climate and fire regimes on Pacific Northwest forests, including effects on disturbance and stress interactions, forest structure and composition, and post-fire ecological processes. We frame this information in a risk assessment context, and conclude with management implications and future research needs. Results Large and severe fires in the Pacific Northwest are associated with warm and dr

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  4. Wildfires, Global Climate Change, and Human Health

    Rongbin Xu, Pei Yu, Michael John Abramson, et al. · 2020 · New England Journal of Medicine · 609 citations

    Wildfires, Global Climate Change, and Human Health Wildfires are increasingly common and projected to worsen with climate change. Health consequences include burns and mental health effects, as wel...

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  6. Wildfire-dependent changes in soil microbiome diversity and function

    Amelia R. Nelson, Adrienne B. Narrowe, Charles C. Rhoades, et al. · 2022 · Nature Microbiology · 259 citations

    Forest soil microbiomes have crucial roles in carbon storage, biogeochemical cycling and rhizosphere processes. Wildfire season length, and the frequency and size of severe fires have increased owing to climate change. Fires affect ecosystem recovery and modify soil microbiomes and microbially mediated biogeochemical processes. To study wildfire-dependent changes in soil microbiomes, we characterized functional shifts in the soil microbiota (bacteria, fungi and viruses) across burn severity gradients (low, moderate and high severity) 1 yr post fire in coniferous forests in Colorado and Wyoming, USA. We found severity-dependent increases of Actinobacteria encoding genes for heat resistance, f

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  8. ENSO's Changing Influence on Temperature, Precipitation, and Wildfire in a Warming Climate

    John Fasullo, Bette L. Otto‐Bliesner, Samantha L. Stevenson · 2018 · Geophysical Research Letters · 191 citations

    Abstract On interannual to decadal time scales, the climate mode with many of the strongest societal impacts is the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, quantifying ENSO's changes in a warming climate remains a formidable challenge, due to both the noise arising from internal variability and the complexity of air‐sea feedbacks in the tropical Pacific Ocean. In this work, we use large (≥30‐member) ensembles of climate simulations to show that anthropogenic climate change can produce systematic increases in ENSO teleconnection strength over many land regions, driving increased interannual variability in regional temperature extremes and wildfire frequency. As the spatial character of

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  9. Vegetation limits the impact of a warm climate on boreal wildfires

    Martin P. Girardin, Adam Ahmed Ali, Christopher Carcaillet, et al. · 2013 · New Phytologist · 113 citations

    Strategic introduction of less flammable broadleaf vegetation into landscapes was suggested as a management strategy for decreasing the risk of boreal wildfires projected under climatic change. However, the realization and strength of this offsetting effect in an actual environment remain to be demonstrated. Here we combined paleoecological data, global climate models and wildfire modelling to assess regional fire frequency (RegFF, i.e. the number of fires through time) in boreal forests as it relates to tree species composition and climate over millennial time-scales. Lacustrine charcoals from northern landscapes of eastern boreal Canada indicate that RegFF during the mid-Holocene (6000-300

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  10. Projecting impacts of wildfire and climate change on streamflow, sediment, and organic carbon yields in a forested watershed

    Danielle Loiselle, Xinzhong Du, Daniel S. Alessi, et al. · 2020 · Journal of Hydrology · 72 citations

    Abstract Increasing temperatures and irregular precipitation associated with climate change, along with increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, contribute to increased downstream transport of sediment and total organic carbon (TOC), with potential impacts on aquatic ecosystem structure and resilience, recreational use of water bodies, and downstream drinking water treatment. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of both climate change and wildfires on water budget, sediment, and organic carbon by simulating the response of sub-catchments and in-stream processes to changes in future climate and wildfire scenarios. To achieve this, we applied a physical process-based hydrologic mo

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  12. Climate change is narrowing and shifting prescribed fire windows in western United States

    D. Swain, J. Abatzoglou, C. Kolden, et al. · 2023 · Communications Earth & Environment · 54 citations

    Escalating wildfire activity in the western United States has accelerated adverse societal impacts. Observed increases in wildfire severity and impacts to communities have diverse anthropogenic causes—including the legacy of fire suppression policies, increased development in high-risk zones, and aridification by a warming climate. However, the intentional use of fire as a vegetation management tool, known as “prescribed fire,” can reduce the risk of destructive fires and restore ecosystem resilience. Prescribed fire implementation is subject to multiple constraints, including the number of days characterized by weather and vegetation conditions conducive to achieving desired outcomes. Here,

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  13. High-severity wildfire potential – associating meteorology, climate, resource demand and wildfire activity with preparedness levels

    Alison C. Cullen, Travis Axe, Harry Podschwit · 2021 · International Journal of Wildland Fire · 26 citations

    National and regional preparedness level (PL) designations support decisions about wildfire risk management. Such decisions occur across the fire season and influence pre-positioning of resources in areas of greatest fire potential, recall of personnel from off-duty status, requests for back-up resources from other areas, responses to requests to share resources with other regions during fire events, and decisions about fuel treatment and risk reduction, such as prescribed burning. In this paper, we assess the association between PLs assigned at national and regional (Northwest) scales and a set of predictors including meteorological and climate variables, wildfire activity and the mobilisat

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  14. Briefing: Climate and Wildfire in Western U.S. Forests

    A. L. Westerling, Tim Brown, Tania L. Schoennagel, et al. · 2014 · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 25 citations

    Wildfire in western U.S. federally managed for- ests has increased substantially in recent decades, with large (>1000 acre) fires in the decade through 2012 over five times as frequent (450 percent increase) and burned area over ten times as great (930 percent increase) as the 1970s and early 1980s. These changes are closely linked to increased tempera- tures and a greater frequency and intensity of drought. Pro- jected additional future warming implies that wildfire activ- ity may continue to increase in western forests. However, the interaction of changes in climate, fire and other disturbances, vegetation and land management may eventually transform some forest ecosystems and fire regimes

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  15. Climate Change Increases the Risk of Wildfires: January 2020

    Matthew W. Jones, Adam J. P. Smith, Richard Betts, et al. · 2020 · UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) · 13 citations

    We undertook a ScienceBrief Review on the link between climate change and wildfire risk. 57 scientific articles were gathered and evaluated using ScienceBrief. This document synthesises the key points that emerged from the findings. Our review focuses on papers published since the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with its cut-off date of March 2013. The papers can be viewed on sciencebrief.org/topics/climate-change-science/wildfires. All papers show linkages between climate change and increased frequency or severity of fire weather, though some note anomalies in isolated regions. None of the papers support a widespread decrease in fire risk.

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  16. Research Trends in Wildland Fire Prediction Amidst Climate Change: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis

    Ming Bao, Jia-Hao Liu, Hong Ren, et al. · 2024 · Forests · 12 citations

    Wildfire prediction plays a vital role in the management and conservation of forest ecosystems. By providing detailed risk assessments, it contributes to the reduction of fire frequency and severity, safeguards forest resources, supports ecological stability, and ensures human safety. This study systematically reviews wildfire prediction literature from 2003 to 2023, emphasizing research trends and collaborative trends. Our findings reveal a significant increase in research activity between 2019 and 2023, primarily driven by the United States Forest Service and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The majority of this research was published in prominent journals such as the International Journal

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  18. Assessing burn severity and vegetation restoration in Alberta’s boreal forests following the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire – a remote sensing time-series study

    Eric Xu, Mary Wei, Tiffany Li, et al. · 2024 · Sustainable Environment · 11 citations

    ABSTRACT Forest fires play a crucial role in resetting boreal ecosystems and steering ecological succession dynamics. However, the escalating impacts of global climate change are anticipated to increase the frequency, intensity, and size of wildfires, leading to significant economic, ecological, and social consequences. To effectively address fire risk and optimize post-fire management strategies, close monitoring, assessment, and understanding of the spatial heterogeneity of wildfires and their impacts are essential. Remote sensing, with its extensive historical records, provides a cost-effective means to examine wildfires. This study focuses on a significant wildfire event that occurred in

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  19. Long-term drought promotes invasive species by reducing wildfire severity.

    Sarah Kimball, Jessica Rath, Julie E. Coffey, et al. · 2024 · Ecology · 11 citations

    Anthropogenic climate change has increased the frequency of drought, wildfire, and invasions of non-native species. Although high-severity fires linked to drought can inhibit recovery of native vegetation in forested ecosystems, it remains unclear how drought impacts the recovery of other plant communities following wildfire. We leveraged an existing rainfall manipulation experiment to test the hypothesis that reduced precipitation, fuel load, and fire severity convert plant community composition from native shrubs to invasive grasses in a Southern California coastal sage scrub system. We measured community composition before and after the 2020 Silverado wildfire in plots with three rainfall

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  21. Simulating fuel management for protecting regional biodiversity under climate change.

    E. Marshall, Jessica L. Keem, T. Penman, et al. · 2024 · Journal of environmental management · 8 citations

    Climate change is resulting in larger, more frequent, and more severe wildfires which have increasingly negative impacts on people and the environment. Under these circumstances, it is critical to determine whether fire management actions can mitigate biodiversity impacts under future fire regimes. However, it is currently unclear how changing climate and management interact to influence the spatial distribution of risks to biodiversity. We used fire simulations to quantify the influence of 13 fuel management strategies on animal biodiversity in the Otways, southeastern Australia, under four alternative climate scenarios. Our management strategies include combinations of prescribed burning,

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  22. Drought and Wildfire Legacies Highlight Vulnerability of a Mediterranean Climate‐Type Forest

    Nathaniel S. Anderson, J. B. Fontaine, Wolfgang Lewandrowski, et al. · 2025 · Austral Ecology · 7 citations

    Alongside gradual changes in climate, extreme events such as droughts and heatwaves have increased in frequency globally. Together, chronic change and extreme events have been linked to forest die‐off, as well as larger, more severe wildfires. Increased disturbance frequency inevitably increases the likelihood of compounding effects, highlighting the importance of understanding forest responses and recovery. This study investigated physiological characteristics of the dominant canopy tree species, Eucalyptus marginata, on sites affected by a drought/heatwave event (2011) and five years later by a wildfire (2016) in southwestern Australia. Using a factorial design of drought vulnerability (si

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