Human driven climate change increased the likelihood of the 2023 record area burned in Canada

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorKirchmeier-Young, Megan C.
dc.contributor.authorMalinina, Elizaveta
dc.contributor.authorBarber, Quinn E.
dc.contributor.authorGarcia Perdomo, Karen
dc.contributor.authorCurasi, Salvatore R.
dc.contributor.authorLiang, Yongxiao
dc.contributor.authorJain, Piyush
dc.contributor.authorGillett, Nathan P.
dc.contributor.authorParisien, Marc-André
dc.contributor.authorCannon, Alex J.
dc.contributor.authorLima, Aranildo R.
dc.contributor.authorArora, Vivek K.
dc.contributor.authorBoulanger, Yan
dc.contributor.authorMelton, Joe R.
dc.contributor.authorVan Vliet, Laura
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Xuebin
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-10T20:27:44Z
dc.date.available2025-04-10T20:27:44Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractIn 2023, wildfires burned 15 million hectares in Canada, more than doubling the previous record. These wildfires caused a record number of evacuations, unprecedented air quality impacts across Canada and the northeastern United States, and substantial strain on fire management resources. Using climate models, we show that human-induced climate change significantly increased the likelihood of area burned at least as large as in 2023 across most of Canada, with more than two-fold increases in the east and southwest. The long fire season was more than five times as likely and the large areas across Canada experiencing synchronous extreme fire weather were also much more likely due to human influence on the climate. Simulated emissions from the 2023 wildfire season were eight times their 1985-2022 mean. With continued warming, the likelihood of extreme fire seasons is projected to increase further in the future, driving additional impacts on health, society, and ecosystems.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipSRC was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), ALLRP 556430-2020.
dc.identifier.citationKirchmeier-Young, M. C., Malinina, E., Barber, Q. E., Garcia Perdomo, K., Curasi, S. R., Liang, Y., Jain, P., Gillett, N. P., Parisien, M.-A., Cannon, A. J., Lima, A. R., Arora, V. K., Boulanger, Y., Melton, J. R., Van Vliet, L., & Zhang, X. (2024). Human driven climate change increased the likelihood of the 2023 record area burned in Canada. Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 7(1), 316. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00841-9
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00841-9
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/21875
dc.language.isoen
dc.publishernpj Climate and Atmospheric Science
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectUN SDG 13: Climate Action
dc.subject#journal article
dc.subjectPacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
dc.titleHuman driven climate change increased the likelihood of the 2023 record area burned in Canada
dc.typeArticle

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
kirchmeierYoung_megan_npjClimAtmosSci_2024.pdf
Size:
5.51 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

PCIC Publications
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.