Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
This year, Keeping said, wildfires spanning several continents have already burned Alaska’s largest area—more than half a million square miles—50 percent more than the average for the past 25 years. Almost all countries in West Africa and the Sahel region in North-Central Africa have been hit by dangerous fires, he added.
But the wildfire season is just beginning in many parts of the world, so with “this rapid onset, combined with the El Niño forecast … we’re looking at a very dangerous year,” he said.
The massive fires that burned in the “green areas” of East Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, were linked to a severe drought that was also linked to human-caused climate change, he said. Scientists know that ecosystems dry out very quickly when there is little rain because of the heat, he said, adding that “this fire is very worrying, because of the population in this area.”
Keeping said that a strong El Niño “may have a significant impact on the risk of wildfires” that is emerging at the end of this year, which will increase the chance of very hot and dry conditions in Australia, as well as in the northwest of the US and Canada, and the Amazon forest.
Even if El Niño leads to “worse conditions later this year, it’s not a cause for panic,” Otto said. Climate change will continue to get worse and worse as long as we don’t stop burning fossil fuels.
A positive response, he said, can be achieved, “because we know what to do about it. We have the knowledge and technology to go far beyond the use of fossil fuels.”
This article appeared first Inside Weather News.
