Climate Change Stokes Wildfires In Boreal Forests

A study by researchers at the University of Montana indicates that the wildfire raging Fort McMurray as well as the boreal forests of Alberta, Canada, is not a sudden flare-up, but will become more common with climate change.

Global warming will ignite the fires that have evacuated 88,000 people in northern Canada, and decreased the nation's oil production by one-third. The northern boreal forests of Alaska and other high altitude locations will continue to be exposed to the risks of fires.

Even though the study so far has focused on Alaska, the findings that have been accepted for publication in the journal Ecography: Pattern And Diversity in Ecology indicate that climate change can enhance the risks of such fires in high altitude regions anywhere. Fires in northern regions can increase up to four times compared to recent decades.

"We looked at the location of wildfires across Alaska during the past 60 years and, not surprisingly, found that they were most common in regions with warm, dry summers," said  Adam Young, a University of Montana scientist and co-author of the research.

Young said that with rising temperatures, there is likely to be "a sharp increase in the likelihood that a fire will occur in a region."

Even though forest fires are natural here, information from recent decades indicates an increase in the unnatural level of frequency and intensity. This suggests a link between global warming and climate change.

"The Alberta wildfires are an excellent example of what we're seeing more and more of warming means snow melts earlier, soils and vegetation dries out earlier, and the fire season starts earlier," said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist from the University of Arizona. "It's a train wreck."

There is a huge reserve of carbon in the boreal forests and Tundra in the northern areas of the earth. They store about 50 percent of the soil carbon in the world. With more fires, there will be more carbon in the atmosphere, enhancing the concentration of climate-changing gases and leading to a "negative feedback loop."

"Globally we are seeing more fires, bigger fires, more severe fires," said Kevin Ryan, a retired U.S. Forest Service scientist, who is a fire consultant.