Climate teleconnections modulate global burned area

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Cardil Forradellas, Adrián, Rodrigues, Marcos, Tapia, Mario, Barbero, Renaud, Ramírez, Joaquín, Stoof, Cathelijne R., Silva, Carlos Alberto, Mohan, Midhun, Miguel Magaña, Sergio de
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2023
• Subjects: Climate Change; Fires; Biomass; Weather; Ecosystem; Canvis climàtics; Incendis forestals > Prevenció i control; ec; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/85356; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36052-8

Climate teleconnections (CT) remotely influence weather conditions in many regions on Earth, entailing changes in primary drivers of fire activity such as vegetation biomass accumulation and moisture. We reveal significant relationships between the main global CTs and burned area that vary across and within continents and biomes according to both synchronous and lagged signals, and marked regional patterns. Overall, CTs modulate 52.9% of global burned area, the Tropical North Atlantic mode being the most relevant CT. Here, we summarized the CT-fire relationships into a set of six global CT domains that are discussed by continent, considering the underlying mechanisms relating weather patterns and vegetation types with burned area across the different world's biomes. Our findings highlight the regional CT-fire relationships worldwide, aiming to further support fire management and policy-making. We thank Lorea Garcia for her insights and useful suggestions in the interpretation of CT-fire relationships during the review process of the manuscript. This project received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, project FIREPATHS (PID2020-116556RA-I00) (authors receiving funding: A.C. and M.R.) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme MSCA-ITN-2019— Innovative Training Networks under grant agreement No. 860787 (PyroLife) (authors receiving funding: A.C., M.T. and C.S.), and the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101037419 (FIRE-RES) (authors receiving funding: A.C., J.R., C.S. and S.d.M.).