Climate and Land Use Dynamics Affecting Fire Regimes of the United States, Australia and the Brazilian Amazonia

Mark A. Cochrane, South Dakota State University/GIScCE, mark.cochrane@sdstate.edu (Presenter)
David Bowman, University of Tasmania, david.bowman@utas.edu.au
Carlos Jr. Souza, IMAZON, souzajr@imazon.org.br
Christopher Barber, South Dakota State University, christopher.barber@sdstate.edu
Izaya Numata, South Dakota State University, izaya.numata@sdstate.edu
Kevin Ryan, USDA Forest Service, kryan@fs.fed.us
Jinxun Liu, SGT, jxliu@usgs.gov
Brett Murphy, University of Melbourne, brett.murphy@unimelb.edu.au
Grant Williamson, University of Tasmania, grant.williamson@utas.edu.au
Christopher Moran, South Dakota State University, christopher.moran@sdstate.edu
Sanath Sathyachandran, South Dakota State University, sanath.kumar@sdstate.edu
Dominic Neyland, University of Tasmania, dominic.neyland@utas.edu.au
Eugenio Arima, University of Texas-Austin, arima@austin.utexas.edu
Patrick Freeborn, South Dakota State University, patrick.freeborn@sdstate.edu
Matt Jolly, USDA Forest Service, mjolly@fs.fed.us
Tom Loveland, USGS, loveland@usgs.gov
Michael Wimberly, South Dakota State University, michael.wimberly@sdstate.edu
David P Roy, South Dakota State University, david.roy@sdstate.edu

We are investigating the propensity for extreme fire occurrences as functions of changing climate, land cover and land use/management across 3 continents (Australia (entire), North America (lower 48 states U.S.) and South America (Brazilian Amazonia)). Only through large-scale studies that incorporate many of the world’s ecosystems, land management approaches and climates, is it possible to provide the context necessary for understanding how both fire and vegetation are responding to climate change.

Human activities are currently altering land cover, the prevalence of fire ignitions, and climate forcing on both vegetation growth and fire behavior, all of which act to change the characteristics of existing fire regimes. During such periods of change, extreme fire behavior and events are more likely, however, without knowledge of where or how these conditions are unfolding, efforts to mitigate ecological, economic, and social impacts will be of limited effectiveness.

We report, here, our preliminary estimations of changing regional climate dynamics, land cover, and fire mitigation activities. Specifically, we show how regional climate averages and variability have changed for each ecoregion within the three study continents over the last 100+ years. While global circulation models indicate an average warming of the planet’s surface, analyses of the actual high temporal and spatial resolution weather observations paint a more complex picture of the rates and patterns with which changes are occurring across landscapes and ecosystems. In addition, we provide the first 30m, basin-wide landcover product for the entire Brazilian Amazon for 2000-2010, with mapping and quantification of both deforestation and forest degradation, baseline mapping of the existing fire regimes of ecosystems for the entire Australian continent, and quantitative assessment of the site specific (571 wildfires) and landscape-level impacts (86 wildfire) of existing fuels treatments in forests of the United States.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Poster Session 1-B   (Tue 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

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

Poster Location ID: 25