Ecologists Foretell Intense Fire Climate for Australia and the Mediterranean

As the global footprint of severe fire conditions is accelerating, ecologists now warn Australia and the Mediterranean to be extremely vulnerable to fire happenings in coming days. The mutual research, conducted by the Professor University of Tasmania from Environmental Change Biology Department – David Bowman and a team of researchers from the University of Idaho and South Dakota State University has forecasted extreme fire conditions for Australia and the Mediterranean. The researchers, by compiling an international satellite database comprising the intensity of fire events between 2002 and 2013 have come up with the conjecture about the extreme intensity of wildfire in the near future.

Scientists analyzed 23 million landscape fire happenings, took place between 2002 and 2013 and found that the number of such disastrous events has climbed from 20% to 50% in the past ten years. The extreme fire events are recorded more in disaster-prone areas, following which the researchers have predicted the intense wildfires to rush forward in coming days.

The study, led by ecologist David Bowman from the University of Tasmania in Australia, and his associates scrutinized the hotness data recorded by the onboard instruments and sensors of NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites for finding the exact intensity of future fire events. After analyzing, they stumbled upon the fact that, acceleration of population is also contributing to the intensification of disastrous wildfires all across the worlds.

Among all 23 million fire cases globally, researchers focused more on 478 cases of most extreme wildfire events, which took place between 2002 and 2013. In the research paper published on Tuesday, February 07, 2017, the led researcher highlights, “Extreme fire incidents are a universal and natural event. It mainly takes place in wooded regions which have marked dry seasons.”

In the paper, the researchers also alleged the uncharacteristic climatic conditions to be the primary cause of extreme fire events. As per the statement of analysts, anomalous weathers like deficiencies and airstreams, following the wet seasons are the major contributors of extreme fire occurrences in desert regions.

By drawing on the satellite data and the climate change modeling, the scientists have identified Australia’s east coast and the entire area of Mediterranean including France, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Portugal to be exceedingly prone to wildfires and extreme fire possibilities.

The research paper appeared in the scientific journal, ‘Nature Ecology and Evolution’ on 7th February 2017.