Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Abstract A string of fierce fires broke out in Chile in the austral summer 2023, just six years after the record-breaking 2017 fire season. Favored by extreme weather conditions, fire activity has dramatically risen in recent years in this Andean country. A total of 1.7 million ha. burned during the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52481-x |
| _version_ | 1797276631761420288 |
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| author | Raúl R. Cordero Sarah Feron Alessandro Damiani Jorge Carrasco Cyrus Karas Chenghao Wang Clarisse T. Kraamwinkel Anne Beaulieu |
| author_facet | Raúl R. Cordero Sarah Feron Alessandro Damiani Jorge Carrasco Cyrus Karas Chenghao Wang Clarisse T. Kraamwinkel Anne Beaulieu |
| author_sort | Raúl R. Cordero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A string of fierce fires broke out in Chile in the austral summer 2023, just six years after the record-breaking 2017 fire season. Favored by extreme weather conditions, fire activity has dramatically risen in recent years in this Andean country. A total of 1.7 million ha. burned during the last decade, tripling figures of the prior decade. Six of the seven most destructive fire seasons on record occurred since 2014. Here, we analyze the progression during the last two decades of the weather conditions associated with increased fire risk in Central Chile (30°–39° S). Fire weather conditions (including high temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds) increase the potential for wildfires, once ignited, to rapidly spread. We show that the concurrence of El Niño and climate-fueled droughts and heatwaves boost the local fire risk and have decisively contributed to the intense fire activity recently seen in Central Chile. Our results also suggest that the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean variability modulates the seasonal fire weather in the country, driving in turn the interannual fire activity. The signature of the warm anomalies in the Niño 1 + 2 region (0°–10° S, 90° W–80° W) is apparent on the burned area records seen in Central Chile in 2017 and 2023. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:31:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b84536a46b504a678d32d17e27aae3aa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:31:01Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-b84536a46b504a678d32d17e27aae3aa2024-03-05T16:25:06ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-01-0114111210.1038/s41598-024-52481-xExtreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)Raúl R. Cordero0Sarah Feron1Alessandro Damiani2Jorge Carrasco3Cyrus Karas4Chenghao Wang5Clarisse T. Kraamwinkel6Anne Beaulieu7Universidad de Santiago de ChileUniversidad de Santiago de ChileCenter for Climate Change Adaptation, National Institute for Environmental StudiesUniversity of MagallanesUniversidad de Santiago de ChileSchool of Meteorology, University of OklahomaKnowledge Infrastructure, University of GroningenKnowledge Infrastructure, University of GroningenAbstract A string of fierce fires broke out in Chile in the austral summer 2023, just six years after the record-breaking 2017 fire season. Favored by extreme weather conditions, fire activity has dramatically risen in recent years in this Andean country. A total of 1.7 million ha. burned during the last decade, tripling figures of the prior decade. Six of the seven most destructive fire seasons on record occurred since 2014. Here, we analyze the progression during the last two decades of the weather conditions associated with increased fire risk in Central Chile (30°–39° S). Fire weather conditions (including high temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds) increase the potential for wildfires, once ignited, to rapidly spread. We show that the concurrence of El Niño and climate-fueled droughts and heatwaves boost the local fire risk and have decisively contributed to the intense fire activity recently seen in Central Chile. Our results also suggest that the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean variability modulates the seasonal fire weather in the country, driving in turn the interannual fire activity. The signature of the warm anomalies in the Niño 1 + 2 region (0°–10° S, 90° W–80° W) is apparent on the burned area records seen in Central Chile in 2017 and 2023.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52481-x |
| spellingShingle | Raúl R. Cordero Sarah Feron Alessandro Damiani Jorge Carrasco Cyrus Karas Chenghao Wang Clarisse T. Kraamwinkel Anne Beaulieu Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Scientific Reports |
| title | Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
| title_full | Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
| title_fullStr | Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
| title_short | Extreme fire weather in Chile driven by climate change and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
| title_sort | extreme fire weather in chile driven by climate change and el nino southern oscillation enso |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52481-x |
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