Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020
Wildfires play a critical role in re-shaping boreal ecosystems and climate. It was projected that, owing to the Arctic amplification, boreal wildfires would become more frequent and severe in the coming decades. Although provoking concern, the spatiotemporal changes in boreal wildfires remain unclea...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:812bed1fdd4a41f6ac211ff1efa5b7ab 2023-05-15T14:56:38+02:00 Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 Jiaxin Tian Xiaoning Chen Yunfeng Cao Feng Chen 2022-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174180 https://doaj.org/article/812bed1fdd4a41f6ac211ff1efa5b7ab EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4180 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14174180 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/812bed1fdd4a41f6ac211ff1efa5b7ab Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 4180, p 4180 (2022) Northern Eurasia wildfire changes Arctic amplification spatiotemporal analysis Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174180 2022-12-30T20:00:03Z Wildfires play a critical role in re-shaping boreal ecosystems and climate. It was projected that, owing to the Arctic amplification, boreal wildfires would become more frequent and severe in the coming decades. Although provoking concern, the spatiotemporal changes in boreal wildfires remain unclear, and there are substantial inconsistencies among previous findings. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis to determine the spatiotemporal changes in wildfires over Northern Eurasia (NEA) from 2003 to 2020 using a reconstructed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire product. We found that wildfires in NEA exhibited contrasting changes in different latitudinal zones, land cover types, and seasons from 2003 to 2020. Cropland wildfires, mainly distributed at low latitudes (50–60°N), considerably decreased by 81% during the study period. Whereas forest wildfires ignited at high latitudes (north of 60°N) have nearly tripled (increasing at rate of 11~13% per year) during the past two decades. The southwestern and northeastern NEA regions exhibited contrasting patterns of wildfire changes. The active fire counts in the southwestern NEA decreased by 90% at a rate of 0.29(±0.12) × 10 5 per year, with cropland fires contributing to ~66% of the decrease. However, the fire counts in the northeastern NEA increased by 292% at a rate of 0.23(±0.12) × 10 5 per year, with boreal forests contributing to ~97% of the increase. It is worth noting that the contrasting changes in wildfires during the past two decades have led to significant structural alternation in the NEA wildfire composition. Forest fires, contributing over 60% of the total fire counts in NEA nowadays, have become the predominant component of the NEA wildfires. The contrasting changes in NEA wildfires imply that more forest fires may emerge in far northern regions of the North Hemisphere as the Arctic becomes progressively warmer in the coming decades. As wildfires continue to increase, more gases and aerosols would be released ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Remote Sensing 14 17 4180 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Northern Eurasia wildfire changes Arctic amplification spatiotemporal analysis Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Northern Eurasia wildfire changes Arctic amplification spatiotemporal analysis Science Q Jiaxin Tian Xiaoning Chen Yunfeng Cao Feng Chen Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
topic_facet |
Northern Eurasia wildfire changes Arctic amplification spatiotemporal analysis Science Q |
description |
Wildfires play a critical role in re-shaping boreal ecosystems and climate. It was projected that, owing to the Arctic amplification, boreal wildfires would become more frequent and severe in the coming decades. Although provoking concern, the spatiotemporal changes in boreal wildfires remain unclear, and there are substantial inconsistencies among previous findings. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis to determine the spatiotemporal changes in wildfires over Northern Eurasia (NEA) from 2003 to 2020 using a reconstructed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire product. We found that wildfires in NEA exhibited contrasting changes in different latitudinal zones, land cover types, and seasons from 2003 to 2020. Cropland wildfires, mainly distributed at low latitudes (50–60°N), considerably decreased by 81% during the study period. Whereas forest wildfires ignited at high latitudes (north of 60°N) have nearly tripled (increasing at rate of 11~13% per year) during the past two decades. The southwestern and northeastern NEA regions exhibited contrasting patterns of wildfire changes. The active fire counts in the southwestern NEA decreased by 90% at a rate of 0.29(±0.12) × 10 5 per year, with cropland fires contributing to ~66% of the decrease. However, the fire counts in the northeastern NEA increased by 292% at a rate of 0.23(±0.12) × 10 5 per year, with boreal forests contributing to ~97% of the increase. It is worth noting that the contrasting changes in wildfires during the past two decades have led to significant structural alternation in the NEA wildfire composition. Forest fires, contributing over 60% of the total fire counts in NEA nowadays, have become the predominant component of the NEA wildfires. The contrasting changes in NEA wildfires imply that more forest fires may emerge in far northern regions of the North Hemisphere as the Arctic becomes progressively warmer in the coming decades. As wildfires continue to increase, more gases and aerosols would be released ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jiaxin Tian Xiaoning Chen Yunfeng Cao Feng Chen |
author_facet |
Jiaxin Tian Xiaoning Chen Yunfeng Cao Feng Chen |
author_sort |
Jiaxin Tian |
title |
Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
title_short |
Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
title_full |
Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
title_fullStr |
Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Satellite Observational Evidence of Contrasting Changes in Northern Eurasian Wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
title_sort |
satellite observational evidence of contrasting changes in northern eurasian wildfires from 2003 to 2020 |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174180 https://doaj.org/article/812bed1fdd4a41f6ac211ff1efa5b7ab |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 4180, p 4180 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4180 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14174180 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/812bed1fdd4a41f6ac211ff1efa5b7ab |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174180 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
4180 |
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1766328716983533568 |