Pacific trend raised US Southwest wildfire area 22%, cut Australia’s 19%

Representative Image (AI-generated) A long-term shift in the tropical Pacific Ocean has played contrasting roles in wildfire activity on opposite sides of the world, amplifying fire-prone conditions in the southwestern United States while easing them in eastern Australia. According to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, the Pacific Ocean pattern increased drying-related burned forest area in the U.S. Southwest by about 22%, but reduced it by roughly 19% in eastern Australia. The findings are based on nearly four decades of wildfire and climate data spanning 1984 to 2022.Decades of data reveal a climate connectionFor the study, researchers analysed satellite observations of burned forest area alongside climate records and advanced climate model simulations covering 39 years. Their goal was to understand how a persistent warming pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean has influenced wildfire risk in two of the world's most fire-prone regions.Since the 1980s, the western tropical Pacific has warmed faster than the eastern Pacific. This uneven warming alters large-scale atmospheric circulation, influencing rainfall, temperature and humidity far beyond the Pacific ...