Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP
Abstract Climate changes are expected to progressively increase extreme wildfire frequency in forests. Finding past analogs for periods of extreme biomass burning would provide valuable insights regarding what the effects of warming might be for tree species distribution, ecosystem integrity, atmosp...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9/pdf |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 2024-09-15T18:09:27+00:00 Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP Girardin, Martin P Portier, Jeanne Remy, Cécile C Ali, Adam A Paillard, Jordan Blarquez, Olivier Asselin, Hugo Gauthier, Sylvie Grondin, Pierre Bergeron, Yves Canadian Forest Service Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9/pdf unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 14, issue 12, page 124042 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2019 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 2024-07-08T04:17:41Z Abstract Climate changes are expected to progressively increase extreme wildfire frequency in forests. Finding past analogs for periods of extreme biomass burning would provide valuable insights regarding what the effects of warming might be for tree species distribution, ecosystem integrity, atmospheric greenhouse gas balance, and human safety. Here, we used a network of 42 lake-sediment charcoal records across a ∼2000 km transect in eastern boreal North America to infer widespread periods of wildfire activity in association with past climate conditions. The reconstructed fluctuations in biomass burning are broadly consistent with variations in ethane concentration in Greenland polar ice cores. Biomass burning fluctuations also significantly co-varied with Greenland temperatures estimated from ice cores, at least for the past 6000 years. Our retrospective analysis of past fire activity allowed us to identify two fire periods centered around 4800 and 1100 BP, coinciding with large-scale warming in northern latitudes and having respectively affected an estimated ∼71% and ∼57% of the study area. These two periods co-occurred with widespread decreases in mean fire-return intervals. The two periods are likely the best analogs for what could be anticipated in terms of impacts of fire on ecosystem services provided by these forests in coming decades. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland IOP Publishing Environmental Research Letters 14 12 124042 |
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Abstract Climate changes are expected to progressively increase extreme wildfire frequency in forests. Finding past analogs for periods of extreme biomass burning would provide valuable insights regarding what the effects of warming might be for tree species distribution, ecosystem integrity, atmospheric greenhouse gas balance, and human safety. Here, we used a network of 42 lake-sediment charcoal records across a ∼2000 km transect in eastern boreal North America to infer widespread periods of wildfire activity in association with past climate conditions. The reconstructed fluctuations in biomass burning are broadly consistent with variations in ethane concentration in Greenland polar ice cores. Biomass burning fluctuations also significantly co-varied with Greenland temperatures estimated from ice cores, at least for the past 6000 years. Our retrospective analysis of past fire activity allowed us to identify two fire periods centered around 4800 and 1100 BP, coinciding with large-scale warming in northern latitudes and having respectively affected an estimated ∼71% and ∼57% of the study area. These two periods co-occurred with widespread decreases in mean fire-return intervals. The two periods are likely the best analogs for what could be anticipated in terms of impacts of fire on ecosystem services provided by these forests in coming decades. |
author2 |
Canadian Forest Service Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Girardin, Martin P Portier, Jeanne Remy, Cécile C Ali, Adam A Paillard, Jordan Blarquez, Olivier Asselin, Hugo Gauthier, Sylvie Grondin, Pierre Bergeron, Yves |
spellingShingle |
Girardin, Martin P Portier, Jeanne Remy, Cécile C Ali, Adam A Paillard, Jordan Blarquez, Olivier Asselin, Hugo Gauthier, Sylvie Grondin, Pierre Bergeron, Yves Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
author_facet |
Girardin, Martin P Portier, Jeanne Remy, Cécile C Ali, Adam A Paillard, Jordan Blarquez, Olivier Asselin, Hugo Gauthier, Sylvie Grondin, Pierre Bergeron, Yves |
author_sort |
Girardin, Martin P |
title |
Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
title_short |
Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
title_full |
Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
title_fullStr |
Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP |
title_sort |
coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years bp |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9/pdf |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 14, issue 12, page 124042 ISSN 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
124042 |
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1810447009539162112 |