Boreal Forest Fire Regimes And Climate Change

Stocks, B. J.; Wotton, B. M.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Fosberg, M. A.; Cahoon, Donald R.; Goldammer, J. G.

doi:10.1007/0-306-48149-9_10

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In North America in particular, fire management favored the suppression of forest fires in recent decades, and as a consequence, there has been a substantial increase in biomass compared to natural levels. Stocks et al (2001) have shown that, under such circumstances, forests tend to transpire most of the available soil moisture, so that catastrophic fires can occur as a result of the greater sensitivity of trees to seemingly minor changes in environmental conditions. One example of the combination of deadwood accumulation resulting from fire-suppression policies and a prolonged drought, is the long and spectacular fire outbreak that occurred in Yellowstone National Park in the United States during the summer of 1988.…”

Section: Natural Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic Change in Mountain Regions: A Review of Possible Impacts

Beniston¹

2003

Advances in Global Change Research

636

634

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This paper addresses a number of issues related to current and future climatic change and its impacts on mountain environments and economies, focusing on the "Mountain Regions" Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, a basis document presented at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and the International Year of the Mountains (IYM) 2002. The awareness that mountain regions are an important component of the earth's ecosystems, in terms of the resources and services that they provide to both mountain communities and lowland residents, has risen in the intervening decade. Based upon the themes outlined in the supporting documents for IYM, this paper will provide a succinct review of a number of sectors that warrant particular attention, according to IYM. These sectors include water resources, ecosystems and biological diversity, natural hazards, health issues, and tourism. A portfolio of research and policy options are discussed in the concluding section, as a summary of what the IYM and other concerned international networks consider to be the priority for mountain environmental protection, capacity building, and response strategies in the face of climatic change in the short to medium term future.

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Section: Natural Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic Change in Mountain Regions: A Review of Possible Impacts

Beniston¹

2003

Advances in Global Change Research

636

634

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“…RACMO2 was provided by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, widely known as KNMI. The KNMI-RACMO2 regional climate model (Lenderink et al, 2003;van den Hurk et al, 2006) is forced with output from a transient run conducted with the ECHAM5 Global Climate Model. The RCM model uses 40 vertical levels on a horizontal 95 × 85 (lat.…”

Section: Station and Model Meteorological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forest fires are highly sensitive to climate change, because fire behaviour responds immediately to fuel moisture (Weber and Flannigan, 1997;Stocks et al, 2001). Thus, the projected increase in temperature will lead to reduced relative humidity and increased fuel dryness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity and evaluation of current fire risk and future projections due to climate change: the case study of Greece

Karali

Hatzaki

Giannakopoulos

et al. 2014

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Current trends in the Mediterranean climate, and more specifically in Greece, indicate longer and more intense summer droughts that even extend out of season. In connection to this, the frequency of forest fire occurrence and intensity is on the rise. In the present study, the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) is used in order to investigate the relationship between fire risk and meteorological conditions in Greece. FWI is a meteorologically based index designed in Canada and used worldwide, including the Mediterranean Basin, to estimate fire danger in a generalised fuel type based solely on weather observations. Here, an evaluation of the index is initially performed for the Greek territory using fire observations that cover a 15 yr period. Three critical fire risk threshold values are established for the area of Greece based on daily mean meteorological data: FWI = 15, FWI = 30 and FWI = 45, increasing from the northwest to the southeast. Subsequently, a regional climate model is employed providing input for the FWI system to investigate the impacts of climate change on fire risk for two future time periods, 2021-2050 and 2071-2100, under the A1B emissions scenario. Days with critical fire risk are expected to increase by as many as 50 days per year by the end of the century.

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“…Recent research has shown that there is an amplification of global temperature change in the high-latitude regions, with parts of interior Alaska showing a temperature increase of 1.4°C (compared to 0.8°C worldwide) over the last 100 years (Wendler and Shulski, 2009). In general, the frequency of large fire years has more than doubled over the past half century across Canada and Alaska (ASC, 2010;Stocks et al, 2001) which, in large parts, is a function of higher temperatures. The study area is a representative case of a sub-arctic boreal forest setting that is witnessing the influence of recent climate warming.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…High latitude areas witness extended periods of sunlight during the summer months, which can aid the spontaneous heating process. Lightning strikes have been identified as the main cause of boreal forest fire (Fauria and Johnson, 2006;Stocks et al, 2001). Lightning strikes and associated forest fires can set a neighboring coal outcrop on fire.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%