In recent studies, the alarming rise in forest fires globally has been tied directly to climate change, marking 2023 and 2024 as especially devastating years for global forests. An estimated 78 million acres of forest burned during this period, contributing to poor air quality and releasing several billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This phenomenon reflects a disturbing trend, as researchers assert that “climate change is loading the dice for extreme fire seasons like we’ve seen,” according to John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist from the University of California Merced.
A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences illustrates that the forest canopy lost to fire in these two years was at least double that of the previous nearly twenty years. Utilizing imagery from the LANDSAT satellite network, the researchers analyzed tree cover loss from 2002 to 2024, correlating that data with satellite observations of fire activity to gauge the impact of wildfires.
Though there has been a global decrease in wildland area burned in recent decades, primarily due to human efforts in managing savannas and transforming landscapes into less flammable regions, the opposite trend is observed with forested areas. Boreal forests in particular lost more than double the canopy area compared to the previous data period. Tropical forests experienced a threefold increase in losses, while North American forests, predominantly impacted by extensive wildfires in Canada, saw nearly four times the canopy loss, demonstrating a clear and pressing linkage between climate instability and wildfire frequency.
A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences illustrates that the forest canopy lost to fire in these two years was at least double that of the previous nearly twenty years. Utilizing imagery from the LANDSAT satellite network, the researchers analyzed tree cover loss from 2002 to 2024, correlating that data with satellite observations of fire activity to gauge the impact of wildfires.
Though there has been a global decrease in wildland area burned in recent decades, primarily due to human efforts in managing savannas and transforming landscapes into less flammable regions, the opposite trend is observed with forested areas. Boreal forests in particular lost more than double the canopy area compared to the previous data period. Tropical forests experienced a threefold increase in losses, while North American forests, predominantly impacted by extensive wildfires in Canada, saw nearly four times the canopy loss, demonstrating a clear and pressing linkage between climate instability and wildfire frequency.
