Climate change has already brought record-breaking fires in Africa, Asia and elsewhere this year, and as summer sets in in the Northern Hemisphere, the situation is expected to worsen, writes Reuters.
From January to April, fires have already caused more widespread damage than ever before in the history of observations. Data from the research group World Weather Attribution shows that more than 150 million hectares of land have burned, which is 20% more than the previous high.
Scientists have indicated that this year could break records for the highest air temperature, which can cause severe drought and widespread fires. Human-caused climate change will be complemented by an especially strong El Niño effect. Theodore Keeping, a bushfire expert at King’s College London, said the fire season has not yet started in many parts of the world, and the sharp start and the El Niño forecast mean the season will be particularly severe. He said 85 million hectares of land have already burned in Africa this year.
Keeping attributed the unusually large fires in Africa to a sharp shift from exceptionally wet weather to extreme drought. The heavy rainfall has allowed grass to grow, which when dry becomes flammable, allows huge savanna fires to spread.
In Asia, 44 million hectares of land have burned in the first four months of the year, almost 40% more than in 2014,
when widespread and severe fires also raged. India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and China have been hit hardest.
Kipping warned that as El Niño causes extreme heat and drought in Australia, Canada, the United States and the Amazon rainforest, the risk of widespread wildfires will increase. This could be the highest on record if a strong El Niño develops. The World Meteorological Organization said in April that El Niño could begin in May. It could cause prolonged drought in Australia, Indonesia and parts of South Asia, floods in other regions, and increase air temperatures.
El Niño is an abnormally large (more than 0.5 degrees Celsius over more than 5 months) increase in ocean surface water temperatures. It has the greatest impact on the Southern Hemisphere. There are fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean during this period, and more in the Pacific Ocean, but Europe is less affected by the climate phenomenon.
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