Forest climate change in Canada large fires

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The study, conducted by the University of British Columbia with assistance from the Canadian Forest Service clearly shows that Canada is facing longer fire seasons with more extreme and complex fire behavior due to changing climate conditions.

Canada had a record fire season in 2023 when fires burned an area of ​​thirty-seven million acres seven times the historical average for 1986 to 2022.

To assess burn severity and its key drivers the researchers combined 50 years of wildfire data to create a model that allowed them to analyze Canada's ten ecological zones. The study found that fuel dryness the amount and age of vegetation were the biggest causes of wildfire severity.

The most fires in recent years break out in northern Canada. Certain areas are more susceptible to fires and include densely populated areas. From an ecological perspective the increase in fire activity in the boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere has raised serious concerns about the health and function of biomes that act as important carbon sinks.

Boreal forests, also known as taiga are the largest biome in the world and cover the subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. At seven hundred million acres Canada's boreal forest represents 28 percent of the world's boreal zone and stores carbon cleans air and water, and acts as a climate regulator.

Source:TheHill