Wildfires and Increasing Temperatures: A Dangerous Combination

You may have heard that wildfires have been increasing worldwide. Do you know why? Like many problems that our planet is currently facing, climate change is a root cause. One reason for climate change's impact on wildfires is that it increases drought frequency and severity [1]. One effect of climate change is less precipitation (snow and rain), which can lead to droughts [1]. Additionally, higher global temperatures can cause higher evaporation of existing moisture, leading to even drier conditions [1]. This means that during droughts, materials like plant matter become drier [2]. This makes them burn more readily, allowing wildfires to begin more often and burn with unprecedented intensity [2]. Droughts are only expected to increase with climate change, so this problem will probably worsen [1]. 

But how bad is this problem really? It is estimated that the amount of forest land burned will increase by 1.5 to 2 times, over the next about 30 years [3]. California is at particularly high risk, largely because of its drought condition [4]. Figure 1 shows that a large part of California, including much of the Central Valley, experienced extreme drought in recent years [4]. Although California's specific weather patterns are one cause of our drought risk, rising temperatures should not be ignored [1,4]. Droughts are a hazard for people living in dry areas, not only because they increase wildfire risk, but also because they decrease water availability for some communities [4]. 

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Figure 1. Shows drought severity across the United States (as of August 2021). California is one region that is of particular concern, as a large part of it is considered category D4, the most extreme drought category listed [4].

The Robotic-Assisted Wood Waste Removal Team is based in California's Central Valley, and is working to mitigate the problem of increasing wildfire danger. With the help of cutting-edge technology, we aim to clear dry plant matter–potential fuel for large fires–from forests. However, this kind of technology does not solve the root cause of the problem, which is climate change. The United States produces about 13.5% of the world's carbon dioxide [5]. However, a more promising statistic is that most Americans actually support an effort for the United States to reach a carbon neutral status in the next 25 years [5]. For our planet, forests, and people, positive change may be on the horizon, and it’s up to us to make that happen.

Sources:

1. Cook, B. I., Mankin, J. S., & Anchukaitis, K. J. (2018). Climate Change and Drought: From Past to Future. Current Climate Change Reports, 4(2), 164–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-018-0093-2 

2. Turco, M., Llasat, M.-C., von Hardenberg, J., & Provenzale, A. (2014). Climate change impacts on wildfires in a Mediterranean environment. Climatic Change, 125(3–4), 369–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1183-3 

3. Anderson, L. (2021, November 17). Study shows climate-driven forest fires on the rise. Newsroom. https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2021/study-shows-climate-driven-forest-fires-rise 

4. Means, T. (2023, May 11). Climate change and droughts: What’s the connection? " Yale climate connections. Yale Climate Connections. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/05/climate-change-and-droughts-whats-the-connection/ 

5. Tyson, A., Funk, C., & Kennedy, B. (2023). What the data says about Americans’ views of climate change. In Pew Global Attitudes Project. Pew Research Center.