<
https://theconversation.com/extreme-wildfires-are-on-the-rise-globally-powered-by-the-climate-crisis-229722>
"Wildfires are the new “polar bear”, routinely used by the media to epitomise
the climate crisis and the threat of major natural hazards. This is despite
most fire on Earth being harmless, even ecologically beneficial.
But are wildfires really getting more extreme? Climate sceptics have challenged
this claim. They point to a global decline in the area burned and argue the
attention given to wildfire is a distracting form of media confirmation bias.
Importantly, not all fire is equal. Most fires are small. Others release
enormous amounts of energy. Energetically extreme fires have an outsized impact
on the Earth system, injecting vast smoke plumes into the atmosphere comparable
to volcanic eruptions. They release huge stores of carbon and cause major
damage to ecosystems and societies, sometimes obliterating entire towns or
suburbs.
So are these extreme fires getting worse? Yes they are, as our new research,
published in the journal
Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows. We chart the
rapid growth of energetically extreme wildfires across the planet over the past
two decades."
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
