Shifting Fire Regimes of the US, Australia and Brazilian Amazonia: The Roles of Climate Change, Land Use and Mitigation Efforts

Mark Alan Cochrane, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, mark.cochrane@sdstate.edu (Presenter)
David Bowman, University of Tasmania, david.bowman@utas.edu.au
Brett Murphy, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, brett.murphy@sdstate.edu
Kevin Ryan, USFS, kryan@fs.fed.us
William Jolly, USFS, mjolly@fs.fed.us
Eugenio Arima, University of Texas - Austin, arima@austin.utexas.edu
Carlos Souza, IMAZON, souzajr@imazon.org.br
Jinxun Liu, SGT, Inc., jxliu@usgs.gov
Thomas Loveland, USGS, loveland@usgs.gov
Michael Wimberly, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, michael.wimberly@sdstate.edu
Christopher Moran, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, christopher.moran@sdstate.edu
Christopher Barber, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, christopher.barber@sdstate.edu
Grant Williamson, University of Tasmania, grant.williamson@utas.edu.au
David Roy, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, david.roy@sdstate.edu

Fire is an integral but poorly understood component of the Earth system. Interdisciplinary research is needed to estimate future climate change effects upon the fire environment and resultant feedbacks with human land use and mitigation efforts. We are investigating the propensity for extreme fire occurrence as functions of climate, land cover and land use/management across 3 continents; Australia (entire), North America (lower 48 states U.S.) and South America (Brazilian Amazonia). We will provide comparable tests of proposed hypotheses and estimation of future climate change effects across multiple ecoregions within most of the world’s terrestrial biome types (boreal tundra and taiga will be the only major vegetated biome types not examined). Only through this type of large-scale study that incorporates many of the world’s ecosystems, land management approaches and climates, will it be possible to provide the context necessary to understand how fire is responding to climate change. We will quantify changes in fire danger since 1901 (since 1948 in Amazonia) as well as fire incidence and fire effects in recent decades. The probability and locations of exacerbated fire regimes under projected future climate scenarios will be quantified. Such knowledge is critical for society in order for proper development planning, regional adaptation and mitigation efforts to take place. By applying what we learn to our analyses of projected future climate changes and simulated increases in climate variability, we will provide a solid understanding of when and in which ecoregions altered fire regimes may pose a risk to both human and natural resources.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Global Change Impact & Vulnerability   (Tue 11:30 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Cochrane, Mark: Shifting Fire Regimes of the United States, Australia and the Brazilian Amazonia: The Roles of Climate Change, Land Use, and Mitigation Efforts ...details

Poster Location ID: 144