Length of the fire season in a changing climate

Abstract

The Canadian Climate Centre's General Circulation Model provides two 10-year data sets of simulated daily weather for a large array of gridpoints across North America. A subset of this data, comprised of only those points within the forested part of Canada, was selected for study. Fire season length was calculated from data sets of both the 1 × CO 2 and 2 × CO 2 runs of the model as well as for the actual climate, using observed data from weather stations. A comparison made between the results of the 1 × CO 2 and 2 × CO 2 runs indicated a significantly longer fire season across the country under a doubling of atmospheric CO 2 levels. Implications of this result, such as a fall fire season in Canada's east and greater strains on management agencies, are discussed.