BIBLIOS

Document type
Conference papers

Document subtype
Abstract

Title
Compound drought-heatwave conditions: a new threat for the fire-prone Cerrado?

Participants in the publication
Patrícia S. Silva (Author)
João L. Geirinhas (Author)
Julia A. Rodrigues (Author)
Renata Libonati (Author)

Summary
The role of compound drought-heatwave (CDHW) conditions on fire activity is still fairly unexplored in Brazil. A recent study has compiled existing literature on CDHW conditions over Brazil’s most important ecosystems, including the Amazon rainforest, the Pantanal wetlands, and the fire-prone savannas of Cerrado. While the Amazon and Pantanal have early evidence of these CDHW conditions and their impact on fire activity, Cerrado has yet to be studied. The study provided initial hints on what this relationship may look like for Cerrado, by studying four ecoregions with high yearly fire activity: Bico do Papagaio, Araguaia Tocantins, Bananal, and Alto Parnaíba. Using soil moisture (SM) from GLEAM v3.5a and maximum temperatures (Tmax) derived from the ERA5 reanalysis, along with burned area (BA) from MODIS MCD64A1 C6, yearly drought and heatwave conditions were evaluated and compared to BAs. Results show that high burning years fall above(below) the climatological median of Tmax(SM). Moreover, the top three burning years for each ecoregion are above the 75th percentile of the climatological series of a heatwave index (derived from Tmax and considering both temporal and spatial incidence). These preliminary results entail that there may be a positive relationship between CDHW conditions and fire in Cerrado, which levers new questions and concerns in the light of future climate change.


Event
8th International Wildland Fire Conference

Publication Identifiers

Tags
fire compound events heatwaves drought cerrado brazil