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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 · 1,091 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 · 771 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 · 613 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 · 261 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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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. 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. Understanding droughts under climate change in South America based on severity-duration-frequency curves and drought atlases

    Niklas Merz, Mariam Zachariah · 2025 · Climatic Change · 3 citations

    Droughts are among the most complex and costly natural disasters, with major impacts on environmental and socio-economic structures which are substantially influenced by anthropogenic factors. The continent of South America is particularly vulnerable and has experienced significant drought events over the past decade. The primary objective of this study is to enhance the understanding of droughts on this continent. Furthermore, it seeks to support the development of science-based decisions and strategies to mitigate the impacts of droughts on agriculture, water resources and wider socio-economic systems. To this end, Severity-Duration-Frequency (SDF) curves are developed using a copula-based

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  19. Wildfires are becoming an increasingly significant challenge as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events

    Nicole Ponce · 2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

    Wildfires are becoming an increasingly significant challenge as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Future wildfire seasons in Europe are likely to see more large-scale fires, with greater impacts on livelihoods, ecosystems and communities, and longer recovery periods. Wildfire risk is also spreading to areas that have not traditionally been exposed. The threat is extending beyond the Mediterranean to countries such as Czechia, Germany and Sweden, with the potential to cause far-reaching damage. This slides has been created to support REGILIENCE+ Open Training Session #2 in collaboration with MIP4Adapt

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