a new study, eh?

Canadian Research Suggests Link Between Forest Fires and Global Warming

By Kate Downen, 7-21-06

The Calgary Herald reports that a University of Calgary biology professor and his associate will soon publish a study explaining the link between climate and fire for the continent's boreal forest.

As fires blaze across the western United States and politicians point fingers at the Interior Department and the Forest Service for lack of wildfirefire prevention work, perhaps this study will add a new variable to the equation.

Ed Johnson and research associate Marc Macias-Fauria examined weather and fire data from the last 70 years and found that fewer large fires were recorded between 1959 and 1976 than in recent decades.

Writes the Calgary Herald, "Pacific decadal oscillation promotes large fires by increasing the temperature and pressure over northern North America. That high-pressure system, called a blocking high, interferes with the normal system of highs and lows, particularly in the western half of the continent.

Meanwhile, fires with shorter time periods in between them are found to be caused by Arctic oscillation, which results in blocking highs particularly in the eastern half of the continent and sometimes Alaska."

Will the study compete with logging industry claims that thinning trees prevents forest fires? Maybe. Says biologist Johnson, "You find out that fires we see locally are not caused by local issues. We always say everything's connected but it's nice to show how the pieces are connected."

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