UBC ATSC 413 - Forest-fire Weather & Climate

Climate Variability, Change & Wildfires

(The future of wildfires.)

Frequently updated.

Intro to Climate and Wildfires

Overview Lecture by Dr. Doug McCollor, 2024. Climate Change and Fire Weather.

 

Bibliography

2025

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2024

  1. Climate Change and Wildfires in BC – a hot and smoky future? (a 138 MB mp4 video).   This excellent hour-long overview was presented by Mike Flannigan on 23 Oct 2024 at a webinar hosted by the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC).    Here is an alternative link to watch it online.
  2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2024: Social-Ecological Consequences of Future Wildfires and Smoke in the West: Proceedings of a Workshop (2024). 165 pages. ISBN 978-0-309-72679-5 | DOI 10.17226/27972. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27972/social-ecological-consequences-of-future-wildfires-and-smoke-in-the-west
  3. NASA 2024: Intense and Widespread Wildfires Could Influence Global Climate, by Pat Brennan. (and the associated animation of smoke transport from Australian wildfires during 2019-2020). Legend for the animation: dust (orange), sea-salt (blue), nitrates (pink) and carbonaceous including wildfire smoke (red), with brighter regions corresponding to higher aerosol amounts.
  4. World on Fire: Wildfires are getting more frequent and more devastating – Climate change is accelerating the blaze. The Economist 24 Aug 2024.
  5. Cunningham, Williamson & Bowman, 2024: Increasing frequency and intensity of the most extreme wildfires on Earth. Nature Ecology & Evolution. , 8, August 2024 | 1420–1425. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02452-2 .
  6. Jones et al, 2024: State of Wildfires 2023–2024. Earth System Science Data, 16, 3601–3685. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3601-2024
  7. ECCC, 2024: Understanding Fire Weather and Climate Change Basics, by climatedata.ca (Environment and Climate Change Canada).
    https://climatedata.ca/resource/understanding-fire-weather-and-climate-change-basics/
  8. Insurance and Wildfire: How Property Insurers are Responding to Wildfire Risk (Nov 2024) , Cascadia Wildfire Webinar 9-19-2024, by Alexandra Syphard & Kenton Brine. Has good discussion about population growth vs wildfires. https://youtu.be/bakTRld_s4k?si=GFgYpAfs8QgcwISB
  9. Balch et al., 2024: The fastest-growing and most destructive fires in the US (2001 to 2020). Science 386 (Oct), 425–431. https://www.science.org .
  10. Canadian Climate Inst., 2024: Fact Sheet: Climate Change and Wildfires, July 2024. https://climateinstitute.ca/news/fact-sheet-wildfires/
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2023

  1. The Parks Canada Climate Crew. Video on efforts to mitigate wildfires in Banff Park in the face of climate change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxvC6MPhu9I .
  2. Parisien et al, 2023: Abrupt, climate-induced increase in wildfires in British Columbia since the mid-2000s. COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT | (2023)4:309 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00977-1 .
  3. UN Chronicle, 2023: Wildfires. https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/wildfires-increase-integrated-strategies-forests-climate-and-sustainability-are-ever-0#:
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2022

  1. United Nations Environment Program, 2022: Spreading like Wildfire – The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires.  A UNEP Rapid Response Assessment. Nairobi. 126 pages. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/spreading-wildfire-rising-threat-extraordinary-landscape-fires  
  2. Jain, et al, 2022: Observed increases in extreme fire weather driven by atmospheric humidity and temperature. Nature Climate Change | VOL 12 | JANUARY 2022 | 63–70 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01224-1 .
  3. Ellis et al, 2022: Global increase in wildfire risk due to climate-driven declines in fuel moisture. Global Change Biology ; 28:1544–1559. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16006
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2021

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2020

  1. The interplay between global warming, population growth, and past fire-suppression policies is leading to larger numbers of more intense fires that threaten more people living at the wildfire urban interface (WUI). This video from the Wall Street Journal provides a good overview. "The Science of Wildfires: Why they are Getting Worse" (6:22), including "fuel treatments" to mitigate extreme wildfires. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN-T6NDWQ1g
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Older

  1. Flannigan, Krawchuk, de Groot, Wotton, and Gowman. 2009. Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 18:483-507. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08187.
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