Abstract
We investigate relationships between climate and wildfire activity between 1929 and 2004 in Pacific coast forests of the United States. Self-Organizing Mapping (SOM) of annual area burned in National Forests (NF) in California, Oregon, and Washington identifies three contiguous NF groups and a fourth group of NF traversed by major highways. Large fire years in all groups are dry compared to small fire years. A sub-hemispheric circulation pattern of a strong trough over the North Pacific and a ridge over the West Coast is characteristic of large fire years in all groups. This pattern resembles the Pacific North American (PNA) teleconnection and positive phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). A reverse PNA and negative PDO phase characterizes small fire years. Despite the effect of fire suppression management between 1929 and 2004, forest area burned is linked to climatic variations related to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | L18704 |
| Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 28 2006 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Geophysics
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
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Fire-climate interaction in forests of the American Pacific coast. / Trouet, Valerie; Taylor, Alan H.; Carleton, Andrew Mark; Skinner, Carl N.
In: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, No. 18, L18704, 28.09.2006.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Fire-climate interaction in forests of the American Pacific coast
AU - Trouet, Valerie
AU - Taylor, Alan H.
AU - Carleton, Andrew Mark
AU - Skinner, Carl N.
PY - 2006/9/28
Y1 - 2006/9/28
N2 - We investigate relationships between climate and wildfire activity between 1929 and 2004 in Pacific coast forests of the United States. Self-Organizing Mapping (SOM) of annual area burned in National Forests (NF) in California, Oregon, and Washington identifies three contiguous NF groups and a fourth group of NF traversed by major highways. Large fire years in all groups are dry compared to small fire years. A sub-hemispheric circulation pattern of a strong trough over the North Pacific and a ridge over the West Coast is characteristic of large fire years in all groups. This pattern resembles the Pacific North American (PNA) teleconnection and positive phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). A reverse PNA and negative PDO phase characterizes small fire years. Despite the effect of fire suppression management between 1929 and 2004, forest area burned is linked to climatic variations related to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns.
AB - We investigate relationships between climate and wildfire activity between 1929 and 2004 in Pacific coast forests of the United States. Self-Organizing Mapping (SOM) of annual area burned in National Forests (NF) in California, Oregon, and Washington identifies three contiguous NF groups and a fourth group of NF traversed by major highways. Large fire years in all groups are dry compared to small fire years. A sub-hemispheric circulation pattern of a strong trough over the North Pacific and a ridge over the West Coast is characteristic of large fire years in all groups. This pattern resembles the Pacific North American (PNA) teleconnection and positive phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). A reverse PNA and negative PDO phase characterizes small fire years. Despite the effect of fire suppression management between 1929 and 2004, forest area burned is linked to climatic variations related to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns.
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U2 - 10.1029/2006GL027502
DO - 10.1029/2006GL027502
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:35548943153
VL - 33
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 18
M1 - L18704
ER -