<
https://theconversation.com/fire-regimes-around-australia-shifted-abruptly-20-years-ago-and-falling-humidity-is-why-209689>
"This century, Australia has suffered more frequent and more severe bushfires.
The Black Summer fires of 2019–20 were the worst on record for the area burned
and property loss.
How much climate change has contributed to these increases is a hot topic.
Bushfire risk is dialled up by four switches: fuel amount and condition, fire
weather and ignition sources. Untangling these various influences is difficult,
so the role played by the warming climate is heavily debated.
Fire-weather measures fire risk on a daily basis, while a fire-climate regime
measures fire risk over seasonal and longer time scales. Our research shows
almost everywhere in Australia is now in a different fire climate than it was
just 20 years ago, with falling relative humidity a key factor. Previous
research has also identified these sudden jumps in fire danger.
What caused fire climates to shift? Conventional scientific wisdom assumes the
climate’s response to increasing emissions is gradual and linear. When rapid
change happens, it’s often thought to be due to climate variability. But that’s
not what happened here."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
