Why do global wildfires occur frequently
According to data released by the Canadian Interdepartmental Forest Fire Center, Canada has experienced over 6300 forest fires this year, with a cumulative area of 174000 square kilometers, continuously breaking historical records. The massive smoke generated by the fire has caused air pollution in many cities in North America. In August, a wildfire broke out on Maui Island in Hawaii, becoming the deadliest wildfire in the United States for over a century. Greece, Spain, Türkiye and other countries were also affected to varying degrees by the spread of forest fires this summer. The global wildfires are raging, causing widespread concern among people.
Forest fires are a natural disaster that is sudden, destructive, and extremely difficult to extinguish. According to statistics, the annual vegetation area affected by fire worldwide is approximately 4 to 5 million square kilometers. Generally speaking, the frequency of fires is higher in northern forests, sparse tree grasslands, Mediterranean forests, and eucalyptus forests. In the past, forest wildfires mostly occurred in the equatorial to cold temperate regions, but now high latitude cold temperate forests in the north are also showing a trend of frequent wildfires.
The causes of wildfires are extremely complex and are the result of the combined effects of climate, weather, vegetation, and fire sources. Wildfires are common in Canadian forests, but this year's severity of fires is rare in history, with one major reason being extreme fire weather caused by climate change. The Mediterranean Basin is also facing the risk of wildfires caused by climate change, with high temperatures, heatwaves, and droughts causing wildfires to ravage neighboring countries in recent years. The Maui Island fire is a typical urban suburban boundary fire, and the combined combustion of urban buildings and vegetation has a certain promoting effect on the spread of wildfires. The insufficient management of combustible materials and fire fighting capabilities around the community are important reasons for the heavy losses caused.
Climate change exacerbates high temperatures, drought, decreased relative humidity, lightning, and strong winds, leading to a hotter, drier, and longer duration fire season, making the wildfire situation even more severe. Taking northern Canada as an example, its climate warming rate is 3 to 4 times that of other regions in the world. In recent summers, the highest temperatures in Canada and the Arctic region of Siberia have both reached over 38 degrees Celsius. This means that the fire risk period in these areas is longer, and some wildfires may even turn into underground fires, which will turn into above ground fires again in the spring of next year after wintering.
The drought caused by climate change also leads to the death of a large number of vegetation, causing a rapid increase in flammable and combustible materials, and further increasing the frequency and severity of fires. Although fire is a natural process in many ecosystems, the interaction between climate change and wildfires can alter the structure and function of ecosystems. This is also an important reason for the significant increase in the severity of global forest fires since the 1980s.
Extreme wildfires pose varying degrees of threat to life safety, production safety, economic operation, and ecological environment, and their destructive nature cannot be ignored. The smoke generated by wildfires can seriously affect the human respiratory system and cardiovascular system, causing long-term effects on human health. In addition, wildfires cause a large amount of carbon stored in forest ecosystems to be released into the atmosphere, significantly increasing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, exacerbating global warming, and forming a vicious cycle. The vegetation degradation caused by fires can also exacerbate soil erosion.
A report released by the United Nations Environment Programme last year predicted that with climate change and changes in land use, the number of extreme fires worldwide will increase by 50% by the end of this century. To cope with the severe challenge of wildfires, it is necessary to carry out more scientific and accurate forest fire management based on fire risks. At present, aerospace exploration technology has been widely applied in forest fire monitoring. In the future, with the continuous progress of remote sensing technology and artificial intelligence technology, the prediction and prediction of extreme fires and environmental ecological risk assessment are expected to achieve breakthroughs.
The most fundamental thing is to strive to improve the ecological environment, continuously enhance the adaptability of the ecosystem, increase habitat diversity, and enhance forest resilience. Take in-depth, rapid, and sustained carbon reduction actions to mitigate the impact of climate change.
