This alarming trend increases air pollution and forest canopy loss, with particularly severe effects observed in North America.
**Climate Change Fuels Escalating Global Wildfire Crisis**
**Climate Change Fuels Escalating Global Wildfire Crisis**
Climate scientists warn that the frequency and intensity of wildfires are on the rise due to climate change.
In 2023 and 2024, heat records were shattered as over 78 million acres of forests worldwide were ravaged by wildfires, releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide and compromising air quality for countless communities. A new study indicates that extreme fire weather patterns are becoming more commonplace, largely driven by climate change. “Climate change is loading the dice for extreme fire seasons like we’ve seen,” noted John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at the University of California Merced, emphasizing the likelihood of more frequent severe fire events.
Research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that canopy loss from fires in the last two years has doubled compared to nearly two decades prior. By utilizing data from the LANDSAT satellite network, scientists tracked changes in tree cover from 2002 to 2024 and analyzed the correlation between fire activity and canopy loss.
While overall land burned by wildfires has decreased in recent decades due to human interventions in savanna and grassland areas, forest fire incidents have markedly increased. The findings show that boreal forests experienced over double the canopy loss from 2023 to 2024 in comparison to the previous years. Similarly, tropical forests suffered threefold losses, and North American forests recorded a staggering nearly quadruple increase in canopy loss, predominantly attributed to wildfires in Canada.
Research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that canopy loss from fires in the last two years has doubled compared to nearly two decades prior. By utilizing data from the LANDSAT satellite network, scientists tracked changes in tree cover from 2002 to 2024 and analyzed the correlation between fire activity and canopy loss.
While overall land burned by wildfires has decreased in recent decades due to human interventions in savanna and grassland areas, forest fire incidents have markedly increased. The findings show that boreal forests experienced over double the canopy loss from 2023 to 2024 in comparison to the previous years. Similarly, tropical forests suffered threefold losses, and North American forests recorded a staggering nearly quadruple increase in canopy loss, predominantly attributed to wildfires in Canada.
