The influence of land-use activities and regional drought on historical fire regimes of Buryatia, Siberia

Every year, millions of hectares burn across Siberia, driven by a combination of warming temperatures, regional drought and human-caused ignitions. Dendrochronology provides a long-term context to evaluate recent trends in fire activity and interpret the relative influence of humans and climate drivers on fire regimes. We developed a 400 year record of fire-scarred trees from 17 sites in pine-dominated forests located southeast of Lake Baikal. Site-level mean fire return intervals (MFIs) ranged from 4 to 27 years for all fires and 8 to 35 years for widespread fires within sites. Sites with the lowest MFI values were located within 1 km of agricultural fields in grassland valleys, suggesting that agricultural burning influenced MFIs at nearby sites. Fire frequency varied over the record, with significantly high values around 1790, from 1865 to 1880, 1948 to 1955 and 1995 to 2005. The increased fire activity corresponded with migration waves to the region and major socio-economic change connected with the establishment and breakdown of the Soviet Union. At broader scales, superposed epoch analysis showed that synchronous fire years were associated with regional drought and precipitation deficits. Wet conditions for 2&ndash;3 years prior to the event year were also significant, suggesting that increased moisture promoted growth of understory fine fuels to support more extensive fires across the study area. Although fire frequencies increased during the 20th century, fire&ndash;climate relationships weakened, suggesting increased human-caused ignitions may override regional climate drivers. Our dataset presents a continuous record of frequent surface fires over the past 400 years, providing a valuable opportunity to compare dendrochronology-based reconstructions with satellite and documentary records. &nbsp;</p

Природа крупных пожаров в подзонах тайги Центральной Сибири

The work deals with the nature of large wildfires, conditions of their occurrence and distribution in the taiga of Central Siberia. The large fires in this region occur during periods of prolonged and intense drought, with precipitation deficit more than 60 % of the norm. Vegetation and climate conditions of large fires are identified and map of their distribution is compiled using satellite information. Fire seasons scenarios are examined, and an iterative model for short-term forecasting of extreme fire situations is proposed. Methodology for short-term forecasting of large wildfires risk is offered based on satellite data simultaneously on the whole territory of Central SiberiaВ статье рассматриваются вопросы природы пожаров, условия их возникновения и распространения в подзонах тайги Центральной Сибири. Установлено, что крупные пожары в этом регионе возникают в периоды длительных и интенсивных засух с недобором осадков более 60 % от нормы. Выявлены растительные и климатические условия распространения крупных пожаров и составлена карта их распределения по территории по космической информации. Рассмотрены сценарии развития пожароопасных сезонов, предложены итерационная модель краткосрочного прогнозирования экстремальной пожароопасной обстановки и методика краткосрочного прогноза опасности возникновения ландшафтных пожаров по спутниковым данным одновременно на всей территории Центральной Сибир

Природа крупных пожаров в подзонах тайги Центральной Сибири

The work deals with the nature of large wildfires, conditions of their occurrence and distribution in the taiga of Central Siberia. The large fires in this region occur during periods of prolonged and intense drought, with precipitation deficit more than 60 % of the norm. Vegetation and climate conditions of large fires are identified and map of their distribution is compiled using satellite information. Fire seasons scenarios are examined, and an iterative model for short-term forecasting of extreme fire situations is proposed. Methodology for short-term forecasting of large wildfires risk is offered based on satellite data simultaneously on the whole territory of Central SiberiaВ статье рассматриваются вопросы природы пожаров, условия их возникновения и распространения в подзонах тайги Центральной Сибири. Установлено, что крупные пожары в этом регионе возникают в периоды длительных и интенсивных засух с недобором осадков более 60 % от нормы. Выявлены растительные и климатические условия распространения крупных пожаров и составлена карта их распределения по территории по космической информации. Рассмотрены сценарии развития пожароопасных сезонов, предложены итерационная модель краткосрочного прогнозирования экстремальной пожароопасной обстановки и методика краткосрочного прогноза опасности возникновения ландшафтных пожаров по спутниковым данным одновременно на всей территории Центральной Сибир