Global warming likely to spread wild fires

Apr 21, 2008

Wild fires are likely to be bigger, more frequent and burn for longer as the world gets hotter, in turn speeding up global warming to create a dangerous vicious circle, scientists say.

Wild fires are likely to be bigger, more frequent and burn for longer as the world gets hotter, in turn speeding up global warming to create a dangerous vicious circle, scientists say.

The process is being studied as part of work to develop a detailed map of global fire patterns which will be used with climate models to predict future fire trends.

“An increase in fire may be the greatest early impact of climate change on forests,” Brian Amiro, from the University of Manitoba, said.

“Our forests are more likely to become a victim of climate change than a saviour,” he added.
Amiro said global warming would cause more fires which, as they burn, contribute to global warming by producing greenhouse gases.

“There are some predictions which show there could be fires in deserts and there are worries they may occur in tropical rainforests if they were drier,” Max Moritz, from the University of California, said.

Forests are natural carbon stores, some built up over millions of years, but as they burn they release the carbon quickly in the form of carbon dioxide.

Reuters

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