Large wildfire driven increases in nighttime fire activity observed across CONUS from 2003–2020

AbstractBiomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon is modulated by climate factors, such as droughts, and by human factors, such as deforestation, and land management activities. The increase in forest fires during drought years has led to the hypothesis that fire activity decoupled from deforestation during the twenty-first century. However, assessment of the hypothesis relied on an incorrect active fire dataset, which led to an underestimation of the decreasing trend in fire activity and to an inflated rank for year 2015 in terms of active fire counts. The recent correction of that database warrants a reassessment of the relationships between deforestation and fire. Contrasting with earlier findings, we show that the exacerbating effect of drought on fire season severity did not increase from 2003 to 2015 and that the record-breaking dry conditions of 2015 had the least impact on fire season of all twenty-first century severe droughts. Overall, our results for the same period used in the study that originated the fire-deforestation decoupling hypothesis (2003–2015) show that decoupling was clearly weaker than initially proposed. Extension of the study period up to 2019, and novel analysis of trends in fire types and fire intensity strengthened this conclusion. Therefore, the role of deforestation as a driver of fire activity in the region should not be underestimated and must be taken into account when implementing measures to protect the Amazon forest.

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Improved estimates of preindustrial biomass burning reduce the magnitude of aerosol climate forcing in the Southern Hemisphere

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abc1379 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (22) ◽

pp. eabc1379

Author(s):

Pengfei Liu ◽

Jed O. Kaplan ◽

Loretta J. Mickley ◽

Yang Li ◽

Nathan J. Chellman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Southern Hemisphere ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Ice Core ◽

Ice Cores ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽

Rapid Expansion ◽

Past Century ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

The Past ◽

Fire Activity

Fire plays a pivotal role in shaping terrestrial ecosystems and the chemical composition of the atmosphere and thus influences Earth’s climate. The trend and magnitude of fire activity over the past few centuries are controversial, which hinders understanding of preindustrial to present-day aerosol radiative forcing. Here, we present evidence from records of 14 Antarctic ice cores and 1 central Andean ice core, suggesting that historical fire activity in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) exceeded present-day levels. To understand this observation, we use a global fire model to show that overall SH fire emissions could have declined by 30% over the 20th century, possibly because of the rapid expansion of land use for agriculture and animal production in middle to high latitudes. Radiative forcing calculations suggest that the decreasing trend in SH fire emissions over the past century largely compensates for the cooling effect of increasing aerosols from fossil fuel and biofuel sources.

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Development and degradation of a submontane forest in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains (Polish Western Carpathians) during the Holocene

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/09596836211033200 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095968362110332

Author(s):

Piotr Kołaczek ◽

Krzysztof Buczek ◽

Włodzimierz Margielewski ◽

Mariusz Gałka ◽

Aleksandra Rycerz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Size Fraction ◽

Abies Alba ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Western Carpathians ◽

Substantial Contribution ◽

Forest Belt ◽

The Holocene ◽

Parasitic Fungi ◽

Carpathian Region ◽

Fire Activity

Mountain regions harbour high biodiversity; however, in numerous areas, they are strongly degraded by human activity. Our study reconstructs the development of the submontane forest belt (400 and 650 m a.s.l.) in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains (Western Carpathians, Central Europe) affected by climate, humans, fire, and parasitic fungi during the Holocene. This forest belt is considered the most transformed by the human in the Carpathian region. Our multi-proxy study included analyses of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), plant macrofossils, micro- and macrocharcoal (size fraction >100 µm, analysed in contiguous sampling), geochemical, and sedimentological markers. The results revealed that Picea abies dominated on the fen subjected to study at ca. 8510–5010 cal. BP. Tilia cordata was a substantial component of the submontane forest between ca. 8510 and 2970 cal. BP and it survived a probable Kretzschmaria deusta outbreak, as well as a period of increased fire activity (ca. 6000 cal. BP). The final retreat of forests with a substantial contribution of Tilia was induced by the expansion of Abies alba, Fagus sylvatica, and partly Carpinus betulus and was preceded by the period of increased fire activity and erosion. From ca. 900 cal. BP human-induced deforestations and agricultural and pastoral activity increased. The modern presence of woodlands with Pinus sylvestris and Larix decidua, in the submontane zone in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains, is a result of sub-recent anthropogenic afforestation on overgrazed areas. The example of the Zbludza site reveals that changes related to fire and pathogen infections, if they have low magnitudes and new competitive taxa are absent, may be reversible in a forest composed of fire-intolerant tree taxa as Tilia. Nonetheless, the widespread submontane ecosystem degradation and the introduction of alien species hamper the regeneration of forest vegetation typical of the submontane zone.

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Late Neogene surge in sedimentary charcoal fluxes partly due to preservation biases, not fire activity

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110273 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 567 ◽

pp. 110273

Author(s):

R.S. Vachula ◽

A.H. Cheung

Keyword(s):

Late Neogene ◽

Fire Activity

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Late Holocene climate anomaly concurrent with fire activity and ecosystem shifts in the eastern Australian Highlands

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149542 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 149542

Author(s):

Zoë A. Thomas ◽

Scott Mooney ◽

Haidee Cadd ◽

Andy Baker ◽

Chris Turney ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

Holocene Climate ◽

Climate Anomaly ◽

Fire Activity

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Economic drivers of global fire activity: A critical review using the DPSIR framework

Forest Policy and Economics ◽

10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102563 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 131 ◽

pp. 102563

Author(s):

Yeon-Su Kim ◽

Marcos Rodrigues ◽

François-Nicolas Robinne

Keyword(s):

Critical Review ◽

Dpsir Framework ◽

Fire Activity

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The Relationship between Particulate Pollution Levels in Australian Cities, Meteorology, and Landscape Fire Activity Detected from MODIS Hotspots

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0047327 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (10) ◽

pp. e47327 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Owen F. Price ◽

Grant J. Williamson ◽

Sarah B. Henderson ◽

Fay Johnston ◽

David M. J. S. Bowman

Keyword(s):

Particulate Pollution ◽

Pollution Levels ◽

Fire Activity ◽

The Relationship

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Preliminary results of the first assessment of 20 years of dust activity in the Patagonia desert (South America) with aerosol products from the MODIS sensors

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7805 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Santiago Gassó ◽

Pawan Gupta ◽

Paul Ginoux ◽

Robert Levy

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

South America ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Transport Processes ◽

Dust Storms ◽

Biological Processes ◽

Aerosol Transport ◽

Deep Blue ◽

Fire Activity ◽

Analysis Of Time Series

Aerosol transport processes in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) have been the center of renewed attention in the last two decades because of a number of major geophysical events such as volcanic eruptions (Chile and Argentina), biomass burning (Australia and Chile) and dust storms (Australia and Argentina). While volcanic and fire activity in the SH have been the focus of several studies, there is a dearth of satellite assessments of dust activity. The lack of such analysis impairs the understanding of biological processes in the Southern Ocean and of the provenance of dust found in snow at the surface of East Antarctica. This presentation will show an analysis of time series of Aerosol Optical Depths over the Patagonia desert in South America. Data from two aerosol algorithms (Dark Target and Deep Blue) will be jointly analyzed to establish a timeline of dust activity in the region. Also, dust proxies from both algorithms will be compared with ground-based observations of visibility at different airports in the area.&#160;Once an understanding of frequency and time evolution of the dust activity is achieved, first estimations of ocean-going dust fluxes will be derived.

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