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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 34,
L16708,
doi:10.1029/2007GL030804,
2007
Fire season precipitation variability influences fire extent and severity in a large southwestern wilderness area, United
States
Zachary A. Holden
Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA
Penelope Morgan
Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA
Michael A. Crimmins
Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
R. K. Steinhorst
Department of Statistics, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA
Alistair M. S. Smith
Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA
Abstract
Despite a widely noted increase in the severity of recent western wildfires, this trend has never been quantified. A twenty-year
series of Landsat TM satellite imagery for all forest fires on the 1.4 million ha Gila National Forest suggests that an increases
in area burned and area burned severely from 1984–2004 are well correlated with timing and intensity of rain events during
the fire season. Winter precipitation was marginally correlated with burn severity, but only in high-elevation forest types.
These results suggest the importance of within-season precipitation over snow pack in modulating recent wildfire size and
severity in mid-elevation southwestern forests.
Received 25
May
2007;
accepted 24
July
2007;
published 23
August
2007.
Keywords: burn severity;
wild land fire;
climate;
remote sensing.
Index Terms: 0480 Biogeosciences: Remote sensing; 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change; 1632 Global Change: Land cover change.
Read Full Article (file size: 225233 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Holden, Z. A., P. Morgan, M. A. Crimmins, R. K. Steinhorst, and A. M. S. Smith
(2007),
Fire season precipitation variability influences fire extent and severity in a large southwestern wilderness area, United
States,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
34,
L16708,
doi:10.1029/2007GL030804.
Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
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