Impacts and Implications of Increased Fire in Tundra Regions of North America
Nancy
HF
French, Michigan Tech Research Institute, nancy.french@mtu.edu
(Presenting)
Tatiana
Loboda, University of Maryland, tloboda@hermes.geog.umd.edu
The purpose of this project is to assess the impacts of a changing climate on tundra fire and the implications for tundra ecosystem services vulnerable to a changing fire regime. We will investigate the influence of climate change in the Arctic on fire occurrence and fire effects in the tundra ecoregions of North America (NA) and address the question: If fire increases in landscapes where fire is neither currently nor historically of great importance, what impacts will this have on the ecosystem services? Current satellite-based methods for mapping fire at northern latitudes are focused on algorithms tuned to forested landscapes rather than treeless tundra types. Therefore, our current accounting of recent fire for the circumpolar arctic is not complete. Fire regime is also most likely changing, and will be changing quickly since fire is strongly driven by climate. Large, extreme fire events such as the 2007 Anaktuvuk fire have the potential to become more numerous as fire season lengthens and climate conditions become more favorable to fire spread. We intend to connect with current research efforts at the Anaktuvuk site as well as studying fire locations across NA. By looking at fire across the region, the role of fire in shaping ecosystem conditions can be better understood if fire regime changes in Arctic NA. We plan to improve maps of past fire using remote sensing-based techniques for fire mapping but “tuned” to detect fires in treeless, Arctic landscapes. Surface conditions following fire will be assessed in the field, via literature review, personal experience of the study team, and from remote sensing. We will use the acquired knowledge to drive a fire occurrence model fine-tuned to ecosystem specifics of Arctic NA. We also plan to apply existing climate models within a framework of fire occurrence modeling to develop future fire occurrence scenarios. The fire regime information for the past into the future will be used to learn the possible implications of climate change-induced fire regime change. Influences of particular interest are related to impacts on systems specifically vulnerable to climate change and/or disturbance. The factors we will investigate are: 1) changes to surface hydrology; 2) implications for carbon cycling and sequestration; 3) influences on energy balance (greenhouse gases and albedo); and 4) impacts to wildlife land use, such as caribou forage conditions.
Presentation Type: Poster
Poster Session: Ecosystems Science
NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:
French, Nan
Impacts and Implications of Increased Fire in Tundra Regions of North America