Science Source

N. P. Gillett, A. J. Weaver, F. W. Zwiers, M. D. Flannigan

Geophysical Research Letters

Published date September 29, 2004

Detecting the effect of climate change on Canadian forest fires

States that the area burned by forest fires in Canada has increased over the past four decades, at the same time as summer season temperatures have warmed
Uses output from a coupled climate model to demonstrate that human emissions of greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosol have made a detectable contribution to this warming
Shows that human‐induced climate change has had a detectable influence on the area burned by forest fire in Canada over recent decades
Concludes that this increase in area burned is likely to have important implications for terrestrial emissions of carbon dioxide and for forest ecosystems