JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Earth
.

Lightning Sparking More Boreal Forest Fires

Jun 26, 2017
A lightning-caused wildfire burns in Alberta, Canada.
Credit: The Government of Alberta
A lightning-caused wildfire burns in central Alaska in July 2008.
Credit: BLM Alaska Fire Service

A new study finds lightning storms were the main driver of recent massive fire years in Alaska and northern Canada, with the storms likely to migrate north as climate warms.

A new NASA-funded study finds that lightning storms were the main driver of recent massive fire years in Alaska and northern Canada, and that these storms are likely to move farther north with climate warming, potentially altering northern landscapes.

The study, led by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of California, Irvine, examined the cause of the fires, which have been increasing in number in recent years. There was a record number of lightning-ignited fires in the Canadian Northwest Territories in 2014 and in Alaska in 2015. The team found increases of between two and five percent a year in the number of lightning-ignited fires since 1975.

To study the fires, the team analyzed data from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and from ground-based lightning networks.

Lead author Sander Veraverbeke of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who conducted the work while at UC Irvine, said that while the drivers of large fire years in the high north are still poorly understood, the observed trends are consistent with climate change.

"We found that it is not just a matter of more burning with higher temperatures. The reality is more complex: higher temperatures also spur more thunderstorms. Lightning from these thunderstorms is what has been igniting many more fires in these recent extreme events," Veraverbeke said.

Study co-author Brendan Rogers at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts, said these trends are likely to continue. "We expect an increasing number of thunderstorms, and hence fires, across the high latitudes in the coming decades as a result of climate change." This is confirmed in the study by different climate model outputs.

Study co-author Charles Miller of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said while data from the lightning networks were critical to this study, it is challenging to use these data for trend detection because of continuing network upgrades. "A spaceborne sensor that provides high northern latitude lightning data that can be linked with fire dynamics would be a major step forward," he said.

The researchers found that the fires are creeping farther north, near the transition from boreal forests to Arctic tundra. "In these high-latitude ecosystems, permafrost soils store large amounts of carbon that become vulnerable after fires pass through," said co-author James Randerson of the University of California, Irvine. "Exposed mineral soils after tundra fires also provide favorable seedbeds for trees migrating north under a warmer climate."

"Taken together, we discovered a complex feedback loop between climate, lightning, fires, carbon and forests that may quickly alter northern landscapes," Veraverbeke concluded. "A better understanding of these relationships is critical to better predict future influences from climate on fires, and from fires on climate."

The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The Alaska Fire Science Consortium at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, also participated in the study.

News Media Contact

Alan Buis

818-354-0474

alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

Sander Veraverbeke

011-31-6-11101574

s.s.n.veraverbeke@vu.nl

Brian Bell

University of California, Irvine

949-824-8249

bpbell@uci.edu

2017-178

Related News

Weather .

A Pioneering NASA Mini Weather Satellite Ends Its Mission

Climate Change .

NASA Satellites Help Quantify Forests’ Impacts on the Global Carbon Budget

Mars .

NASA’s Perseverance Pays Off Back Home

Climate Change .

Warming Seas Are Accelerating Greenland’s Glacier Retreat

Earth .

NASA, US and European Partner Satellite Returns First Sea Level Measurements

Technology .

NASA Confirms New SIMPLEx Mission Small Satellite to Blaze Trails Studying Lunar Surface

Earth .

New Data Confirm 2020 SO to Be the Upper Centaur Rocket Booster From the 1960's

Earth .

Follow Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in Real Time As It Orbits Earth

Climate Change .

US-European Mission Launches to Monitor the World's Oceans

Climate Change .

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite Prepared for Launch

Explore More

Image .

Mt. Etna February 2021

Image .

Tumbiana Stromatolite

Image .

Banjul, The Gambia

Image .

Lake Salda Rocks

Image .

Lake Salda Beach

Image .

Serabit el-Khadim, Egypt

Image .

Glacier Undercutting in Action

Image .

Hulhumale, Maldives

Topic .

Earth

Image .

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Universe Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono