FOREST FIRES IN FINLAND – THE INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERIC OSCILLATIONS

In Finland, in the period 1996–2017, 28,434 forest fires were recorded (an average of 1,292.5 per year), and the total burned area was 11,922 ha (an average of 541.9 ha per year). In both cases, a statistically non-significant downward trend was recorded. Forest fires in Finland do not represent a p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Geographical Institute Jovan Cvijic, SASA
Main Authors: Milan Milenković, Vladan Ducić, Jovan Mihajlović, Dragan Burić, Violeta Babić
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Geographical Institute "Jovan Cvijić" SASA 2019
Subjects:
forest fires
Finland
NAO
AO
Lomb periodogram
envir
geo
Arctic
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2298/IJGI1901075M
https://doaj.org/article/0fbd3a607cba44c6b71e7490bfeac133
Description
Summary:In Finland, in the period 1996–2017, 28,434 forest fires were recorded (an average of 1,292.5 per year), and the total burned area was 11,922 ha (an average of 541.9 ha per year). In both cases, a statistically non-significant downward trend was recorded. Forest fires in Finland do not represent a particularly significant problem, primarily due to climatic characteristics, well-organized fire protection, and low density of population. The research of climate influence included the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The statistically significant values (p ≤ .05) of Pearson correlation coefficient were recorded for the August values of NAO and the surface area of burned forest (−0.44), the June values of NAO and the average surface area of forest burned per fire (−0.51) and the May AO values and the average surface area of forest burned per fire (−0.45). For the June values of NAO and the average surface area of forest burned per fire, the Lomb periodogram shows four significant peaks, and the match is at two, at 2.4 and 3.4 years, which supports the hypothesis of the connection between NAO and forest fires in Finland.

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