Teleconnection between the Atlantic sea surface temperature and forest fires in Latvia and Estonia

• Published in: Silva Fennica
• Main Authors: Kitenberga, Māra, Matisons, Roberts, Jansons, Āris, Donis, Jānis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Finnish Society of Forest Science 2018
• Subjects: Forestry; SD1-669.5; Arctic; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.7771; https://doaj.org/article/7cb338b02fe44319b37833323dd2ae49

Forest fire is one of the natural disturbances, which have important ecological and socioeconomical effect. Although fire activity is driven by weather conditions, during past two centuries forest fires have been strongly anthropogenically controlled. In this study, teleconnection between sea surface temperature (SST) in the Atlantic, which influences climate in Europe, and forest fire activity in Latvia and Estonia was assessed using âClimate explorerâ web-tool. Factors affecting number and area of forest fires in Latvia and Estonia differed, suggesting regional specifics. In Estonia, the number of fires correlated with the SST in the North Atlantic in spring and summer, which affects the inflow of cool and dry air masses from the Arctic, hence the aridity and burnability. The area of fires in Estonia and in Latvia was associated with increased SST in Baltic Sea and near the European coast in summer, which likely were consequences of occurrence of warm high-pressure systems in summer, causing hot and dry conditions. Nevertheless, the observed teleconnections could be used to predict activity of forest fires in Latvia and Estonia.