Hi Reddit! We're Stefan Doerr, Mike Flannigan and Nicola Jones, and
we're talking about the increase in the frequency and intensity of
wildfires around the world -- Ask Us Anything!
Abstract
My name is Nicola Jones, and I am a freelance science journalist who
writes for Yale Environment 360, Nature, New Scientist, Sapiens and
more. My scientific background is in chemistry and oceanography, but I
have reported and written on stories across the physical sciences, from
climate change to quantum physics. I live in Pemberton, BC, where the
wildfire smoke was so bad last summer that I had to evacuate my own
family to a hotel for a week. In my recent story for Yale Environment
360, “Stark Evidence: A Warmer World Is Sparking More and Bigger
Wildfires”
[https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-evidence-is-clear-a-warmer-world-means-more-wildfires],
scientists Stefan Doerr and Mike Flannigan join me to investigate the
factors behind the increasing intensity and frequency of wildfires
around the world. My name is Mike Flannigan and I am the director of the
Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science and a Professor of
Wildland Fire at the University of Alberta. My research interests
include wildland fire and weather/climate interactions including the
potential impact of climatic change, lightning-ignited forest fires and
landscape fire modelling. In Canada, we are already seeing the impact of
climate change with longer fire seasons and more area burned. My name is
Stefan H. Doerr, and I’m a Professor of Physical Geography and leader of
the Environmental Dynamics Research Group at Swansea University in the
United Kingdom. My research centers on wildfire impacts, including fire
effects on landscape carbon dynamics, on soils and on water quality, as
well as global fire patterns, trends and risk. The wildfire season is
getting longer—it has increased by 19% from 1978 to 2013. The burned
area in the U.S. West has gone from 250,000 acres in 1985 to 1.2 million
acres in 2015. Siberia is seeing its worst fires in 10,000 years. In
short, there’s an increased risk for fire on every continent, and things
are only slated to get worse. Many of the causes of these fires are
anthropogenic—but climate change isn’t the only factor. Other human
effects, including forest management policy, have also played a role.
Why are wildfires increasing, what should we expect wildfires to look
like in the future, and what can we do to help prevent them? We will be
answering your questions at 1 pm EST – Ask Us Anything!