A warming climate will lead to more wildfires in coming decades, with the most dramatic increase in the Northwest, a new study predicts.
The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, is not the first to look at how a shifting climate will influence fire patterns, but it goes a step further by attempting to show the impacts of increased wildfire on air quality.
"Warmer temperatures can dry out underbrush, leading to a more serious conflagration once a fire is started by lightening or human activity," said Jennifer Logan a study author and research fellow at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "Because smoke and other particles from fires adversely affect air quality, an increase in wildfires could have large impacts on human health."
Logan and her fellow researchers predict a West-wide increase in area burned of 50 percent by 2050, with the largest increase (75-175%) the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains.The Oregonian
