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Study: Climate Change to Blame For Worsening U.S. Wildfires
http://time.com/69211/wildfire-climate-change-study/Drought, heat and dry weather caused by climate change has dramatically increased the number of wildfires in the U.S., a new study shows. The number of sizable wildfires increased by a rate of seven fires a year between 1984 and 2011
Massive, destructive wildfires have increased over the past 3o years in the western United States due to rising temperatures associated with climate change, an new study shows, and could get worse over the coming decades.
The number of sizable wildfires increased by a rate of seven fires a year between 1984 and 2011, according to the study published this week in Geophysical Research Letters. The total area damaged by fire increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres per year.
Scientists only included fires of greater than 1,000 acres in their data set in 17 Western states, using satellite data that has only been available since 1984, USA Today reports.
Massive, destructive wildfires have increased over the past 3o years in the western United States due to rising temperatures associated with climate change, an new study shows, and could get worse over the coming decades.
The number of sizable wildfires increased by a rate of seven fires a year between 1984 and 2011, according to the study published this week in Geophysical Research Letters. The total area damaged by fire increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres per year.
Scientists only included fires of greater than 1,000 acres in their data set in 17 Western states, using satellite data that has only been available since 1984, USA Today reports.