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Forest fires have crept higher into the mountains in recent decades, scorching areas previously too wet to burn, according to researchers at McGill University. As forest fires escalate, 11% of all forests in the western United States are now threatened.
“Climate change and drought conditions in the West are drying up high altitude forests, making them particularly vulnerable to fires,” says lead author Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, doctoral student at McGill University under the supervision of the professor. Jan Adamowski. “This creates new dangers for mountain communities, with impacts on downstream water supplies as well as on the plants and wildlife that inhabit these forests.”
Global warming has lowered the “flammability barrier”
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers analyzed records of fires of more than 405 hectares in the mountainous regions of the contiguous western United States between 1984 and 2017. Their results show that the global warming has decreased the ‘high altitude flammability barrier’ – the point where forests were historically too wet to burn regularly due to the persistent presence of snow. Researchers found that the fires had increased by about 252 meters in the western mountains during those three decades.
The amount of land burned increased at all elevations during this period, but the greatest increase occurred at elevations above 2,500 meters. In addition, the area burning above 8,200 feet more than tripled from 2001 to 2017 compared to 1984 to 2000. Over the past 34 years, rising temperatures have extended the range of fires in the West to An additional 81,500 square kilometers of high elevation forest, an area similar in size to South Carolina.
“Climate change continues to increase the risk of fire, and this trend is likely to continue as the planet warms. More fire activity higher up in the mountains is another warning of the dangers that lie ahead,” said co-author Jan Adamowski, professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University.
Source of the story:
Documents provided by McGill University. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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