An analysis of 88 million wildfire observations over the past 21 years shows a strong increase in the frequency and intensity of the most extreme fires around the world.
We compiled maps of bushfires and prescribed burns in southern Australia from 1980 to 2021 to see how fire activity is changing habitat for 129 threatened species such as mountain pygmy possums.
Human influence on the climate started even before the Industrial Revolution.
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Erle C. Ellis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Scientists have been debating the start of the Anthropocene Epoch for 15 years. I was part of those discussions, and I agree with the vote rejecting it.
The forest fires that struck the Continent in the summer of 2022 were devastating, yet historical data shows that they were not ‘unprecedented’, contrary to media accounts.
The paltry spending means many species severely impacted by the megafires were left in desperate trouble, potentially pushing some closer to extinction.
Forest thinning and prescribed burns leave less fuel to burn.
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Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources et Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
After another devastating wildfire year in the West, the Biden administration has a plan to ramp up forest thinning and prescribed burns. Two foresters explain why these projects are so important.
Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources et Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Two forest researchers whose own communities were threatened by fires in 2021 explain how historic policies left forests at high risk of megafires.
Colorado’s East Troublesome Fire jumped the Continental Divide on Oct. 22, 2020, and eventually became Colorado’s second-largest fire on record.
Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory
Scientists studied charcoal layers in the sediment of lake beds across the Rockies to track fires over time. They found increasing fire activity as the climate warmed.
The Red Gully bushfire near Gingin, WA.
AAP Image/Supplied by DFES, Nikki Woods