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Lightning as a major driver of recent large fire years in North American boreal forests

Author

Listed:
  • Sander Veraverbeke

    (University of California
    Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Brendan M. Rogers

    (Woods Hole Research Center)

  • Mike L. Goulden

    (University of California)

  • Randi R. Jandt

    (Alaska Fire Science Consortium, University of Alaska)

  • Charles E. Miller

    (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology)

  • Elizabeth B. Wiggins

    (University of California)

  • James T. Randerson

    (University of California)

Abstract

Changes in climate and fire regimes are transforming the boreal forest, the world’s largest biome. Boreal North America recently experienced two years with large burned area: 2014 in the Northwest Territories and 2015 in Alaska. Here we use climate, lightning, fire and vegetation data sets to assess the mechanisms contributing to large fire years. We find that lightning ignitions have increased since 1975, and that the 2014 and 2015 events coincided with a record number of lightning ignitions and exceptionally high levels of burning near the northern treeline. Lightning ignition explained more than 55% of the interannual variability in burned area, and was correlated with temperature and precipitation, which are projected to increase by mid-century. The analysis shows that lightning drives interannual and long-term ignition and burned area dynamics in boreal North America, and implies future ignition increases may increase carbon loss while accelerating the northward expansion of boreal forest.

Suggested Citation

  • Sander Veraverbeke & Brendan M. Rogers & Mike L. Goulden & Randi R. Jandt & Charles E. Miller & Elizabeth B. Wiggins & James T. Randerson, 2017. "Lightning as a major driver of recent large fire years in North American boreal forests," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(7), pages 529-534, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:7:y:2017:i:7:d:10.1038_nclimate3329
    DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3329
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yanlan Liu & William J. Riley & Trevor F. Keenan & Zelalem A. Mekonnen & Jennifer A. Holm & Qing Zhu & Margaret S. Torn, 2022. "Dispersal and fire limit Arctic shrub expansion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Lucash, Melissa S. & Marshall, Adrienne M. & Weiss, Shelby A. & McNabb, John W. & Nicolsky, Dmitry J. & Flerchinger, Gerald N. & Link, Timothy E. & Vogel, Jason G. & Scheller, Robert M. & Abramoff, Ro, 2023. "Burning trees in frozen soil: Simulating fire, vegetation, soil, and hydrology in the boreal forests of Alaska," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 481(C).
    3. Yang Shu & Chunming Shi & Bole Yi & Pengwu Zhao & Lijuan Guan & Mei Zhou, 2022. "Influence of Climatic Factors on Lightning Fires in the Primeval Forest Region of the Northern Daxing’an Mountains, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-11, May.
    4. Zhichao Xu & Wei Shan & Ying Guo & Chengcheng Zhang & Lisha Qiu, 2022. "Swamp Wetlands in Degraded Permafrost Areas Release Large Amounts of Methane and May Promote Wildfires through Friction Electrification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-28, July.
    5. Jasper Dijkstra & Tracy Durrant & Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz & Sander Veraverbeke, 2022. "Anthropogenic and Lightning Fire Incidence and Burned Area in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, April.

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