Changes In Climate, Potential Forest Fire Danger, And Land Use In High Latitudes Of The Northern Hemisphere
Abstract
Significant climatic changes over the high latitudes in the 20th century have been reflected in numerous variables of economic, social, and ecological interests, including the natural frequency of forest fires. Using meteorological information for the past century, we found a significant (sometimes a twofold) increase in indices that characterize the weather conditions conducive to forest fires. The areas where this increase was statistically significant coincide with the areas of most significant warming during the past several decades in Central Alaska and in Siberia, south of the Arctic Circle. Systematic changes in land use over the Great Russian Plain have been documented for the past 60 years. Forested area has increased during this period over the entire Plain. The area of agricultural land and (specifically) of arable land have decreased in the central and northern parts of the Plain. Specifically, in the 1950s, the area of arable land in the Volga River Basin was the same as the area of the forested land. During the following 50 years the area of arable land has decreased by 16 percent and the area of forested land has increased by the same amount.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004AGUSMGC14A..06G
- Keywords:
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- 0400 Biogeosciences;
- 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)