Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2169-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2169-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Attribution of the role of climate change in the forest fires in Sweden 2018
Folmer Krikken
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, De Bilt, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Flavio Lehner
National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA
Karsten Haustein
Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United
Kingdom
Igor Drobyshev
Centre for Forest Research, Montreal, Canada
NSERC-UQAT-UQAM, Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest Management,
Université du Québec, Quebec, Canada
Southern Swedish Forest
Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
Geert Jan van Oldenborgh
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, De Bilt, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Related authors
Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Folmer Krikken, Sophie Lewis, Nicholas J. Leach, Flavio Lehner, Kate R. Saunders, Michiel van Weele, Karsten Haustein, Sihan Li, David Wallom, Sarah Sparrow, Julie Arrighi, Roop K. Singh, Maarten K. van Aalst, Sjoukje Y. Philip, Robert Vautard, and Friederike E. L. Otto
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 941–960, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-941-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-941-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Southeastern Australia suffered from disastrous bushfires during the 2019/20 fire season, raising the question whether these have become more likely due to climate change. We found no attributable trend in extreme annual or monthly low precipitation but a clear shift towards more extreme heat. However, this shift is underestimated by the models. Analysing fire weather directly, we found that the chance has increased by at least 30 %, but due to the underestimation it could well be higher.
Nicola Maher, Adam S. Phillips, Clara Deser, Robert C. Jnglin Wills, Flavio Lehner, John Fasullo, Julie M. Caron, Lukas Brunner, Urs Beyerle, and Jemma Jeffree
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 6341–6365, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6341-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6341-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present the new Multi-Model Large Ensemble Archive (MMLEAv2) and introduce the newly updated Climate Variability Diagnostics Package version 6 (CVDPv6), which is designed specifically for use with large ensembles. For highly variable quantities, we demonstrate that a model might perform evaluation poorly or favourably compared to the single realisation of the world that the observations represent, highlighting the need for large ensembles for model evaluation.
Mari R. Tye, Ming Ge, Jadwiga H. Richter, Ethan D. Gutmann, Allyson Rugg, Cindy L. Bruyère, Sue Ellen Haupt, Flavio Lehner, Rachel McCrary, Andrew J. Newman, and Andy Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1117–1133, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1117-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1117-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
There is a perceived mismatch between the spatial scales on which global climate models can produce data and those needed for water management decisions. However, poor communication of specific metrics relevant to local decisions is also a problem. We assessed the credibility of a set of water management decision metrics in the Community Earth System Model v2 (CESM2). CESM2 shows potentially greater use of its output in long-range water management decisions.
Elena Xoplaki, Florian Ellsäßer, Jens Grieger, Katrin M. Nissen, Joaquim G. Pinto, Markus Augenstein, Ting-Chen Chen, Hendrik Feldmann, Petra Friederichs, Daniel Gliksman, Laura Goulier, Karsten Haustein, Jens Heinke, Lisa Jach, Florian Knutzen, Stefan Kollet, Jürg Luterbacher, Niklas Luther, Susanna Mohr, Christoph Mudersbach, Christoph Müller, Efi Rousi, Felix Simon, Laura Suarez-Gutierrez, Svenja Szemkus, Sara M. Vallejo-Bernal, Odysseas Vlachopoulos, and Frederik Wolf
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 541–564, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-541-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-541-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Europe frequently experiences compound events, with major impacts. We investigate these events’ interactions, characteristics, and changes over time, focusing on socio-economic impacts in Germany and central Europe. Highlighting 2018’s extreme events, this study reveals impacts on water, agriculture, and forests and stresses the need for impact-focused definitions and better future risk quantification to support adaptation planning.
Florian Knutzen, Paul Averbeck, Caterina Barrasso, Laurens M. Bouwer, Barry Gardiner, José M. Grünzweig, Sabine Hänel, Karsten Haustein, Marius Rohde Johannessen, Stefan Kollet, Mortimer M. Müller, Joni-Pekka Pietikäinen, Karolina Pietras-Couffignal, Joaquim G. Pinto, Diana Rechid, Efi Rousi, Ana Russo, Laura Suarez-Gutierrez, Sarah Veit, Julian Wendler, Elena Xoplaki, and Daniel Gliksman
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 77–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-77-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-77-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our research, involving 22 European scientists, investigated drought and heat impacts on forests in 2018–2022. Findings reveal that climate extremes are intensifying, with central Europe being most severely impacted. The southern region showed resilience due to historical drought exposure, while northern and Alpine areas experienced emerging or minimal impacts. The study highlights the need for region-specific strategies, improved data collection, and sustainable practices to safeguard forests.
Ankur Dixit, Sandeep Sahany, Flavio Lehner, and Saroj Kanta Mishra
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-587, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-587, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
This study calibrates WRF-Hydro in a Himalayan basin, finding precipitation choice significantly influences results over parameter sets. Study highlights the importance of tailored calibration strategies and parameter sensitivity analyses for accurate streamflow predictions in Himalayan basins, crucial for effective water resource management.
Dominik L. Schumacher, Mariam Zachariah, Friederike Otto, Clair Barnes, Sjoukje Philip, Sarah Kew, Maja Vahlberg, Roop Singh, Dorothy Heinrich, Julie Arrighi, Maarten van Aalst, Mathias Hauser, Martin Hirschi, Verena Bessenbacher, Lukas Gudmundsson, Hiroko K. Beaudoing, Matthew Rodell, Sihan Li, Wenchang Yang, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Luke J. Harrington, Flavio Lehner, Gianpaolo Balsamo, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 131–154, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-131-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-131-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The 2022 summer was accompanied by widespread soil moisture deficits, including an unprecedented drought in Europe. Combining several observation-based estimates and models, we find that such an event has become at least 5 and 20 times more likely due to human-induced climate change in western Europe and the northern extratropics, respectively. Strong regional warming fuels soil desiccation; hence, projections indicate even more potent future droughts as we progress towards a 2 °C warmer world.
Daniel Gliksman, Paul Averbeck, Nico Becker, Barry Gardiner, Valeri Goldberg, Jens Grieger, Dörthe Handorf, Karsten Haustein, Alexia Karwat, Florian Knutzen, Hilke S. Lentink, Rike Lorenz, Deborah Niermann, Joaquim G. Pinto, Ronald Queck, Astrid Ziemann, and Christian L. E. Franzke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2171–2201, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2171-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2171-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Wind and storms are a major natural hazard and can cause severe economic damage and cost human lives. Hence, it is important to gauge the potential impact of using indices, which potentially enable us to estimate likely impacts of storms or other wind events. Here, we review basic aspects of wind and storm generation and provide an extensive overview of wind impacts and available indices. This is also important to better prepare for future climate change and corresponding changes to winds.
Carolina Gallo, Jonathan M. Eden, Bastien Dieppois, Igor Drobyshev, Peter Z. Fulé, Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz, and Matthew Blackett
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3103–3122, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study conducts the first global evaluation of the latest generation of global climate models to simulate a set of fire weather indicators from the Canadian Fire Weather Index System. Models are shown to perform relatively strongly at the global scale, but they show substantial regional and seasonal differences. The results demonstrate the value of model evaluation and selection in producing reliable fire danger projections, ultimately to support decision-making and forest management.
Efi Rousi, Andreas H. Fink, Lauren S. Andersen, Florian N. Becker, Goratz Beobide-Arsuaga, Marcus Breil, Giacomo Cozzi, Jens Heinke, Lisa Jach, Deborah Niermann, Dragan Petrovic, Andy Richling, Johannes Riebold, Stella Steidl, Laura Suarez-Gutierrez, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Dim Coumou, André Düsterhus, Florian Ellsäßer, Georgios Fragkoulidis, Daniel Gliksman, Dörthe Handorf, Karsten Haustein, Kai Kornhuber, Harald Kunstmann, Joaquim G. Pinto, Kirsten Warrach-Sagi, and Elena Xoplaki
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1699–1718, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1699-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive, multi-faceted analysis of the 2018 extreme summer in terms of heat and drought in central and northern Europe, with a particular focus on Germany. A combination of favorable large-scale conditions and locally dry soils were related with the intensity and persistence of the events. We also showed that such extremes have become more likely due to anthropogenic climate change and might occur almost every year under +2 °C of global warming.
Sjoukje Y. Philip, Sarah F. Kew, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Faron S. Anslow, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Robert Vautard, Dim Coumou, Kristie L. Ebi, Julie Arrighi, Roop Singh, Maarten van Aalst, Carolina Pereira Marghidan, Michael Wehner, Wenchang Yang, Sihan Li, Dominik L. Schumacher, Mathias Hauser, Rémy Bonnet, Linh N. Luu, Flavio Lehner, Nathan Gillett, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Chris Rodell, Roland B. Stull, Rosie Howard, and Friederike E. L. Otto
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1689–1713, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1689-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1689-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada saw record temperatures far exceeding those previously observed. This attribution study found such a severe heat wave would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change. Assuming no nonlinear interactions, such events have become at least 150 times more common, are about 2 °C hotter and will become even more common as warming continues. Therefore, adaptation and mitigation are urgently needed to prepare society.
Ruksana H. Rimi, Karsten Haustein, Emily J. Barbour, Sarah N. Sparrow, Sihan Li, David C. H. Wallom, and Myles R. Allen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5737–5756, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5737-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5737-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme rainfall events are major concerns in Bangladesh. Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and damage nearly harvestable crops in pre-monsoon season. While in monsoon season, the impacts can range from widespread agricultural loss, huge property damage, to loss of lives and livelihoods. This paper assesses the role of anthropogenic climate change drivers in changing risks of extreme rainfall events during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons at local sub-regional-scale within Bangladesh.
Christina Heinze-Deml, Sebastian Sippel, Angeline G. Pendergrass, Flavio Lehner, and Nicolai Meinshausen
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 4977–4999, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4977-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4977-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Quantifying dynamical and thermodynamical components of regional precipitation change is a key challenge in climate science. We introduce a novel statistical model (Latent Linear Adjustment Autoencoder) that combines the flexibility of deep neural networks with the robustness advantages of linear regression. The method enables estimation of the contribution of a coarse-scale atmospheric circulation proxy to daily precipitation at high resolution and in a spatially coherent manner.
Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Folmer Krikken, Sophie Lewis, Nicholas J. Leach, Flavio Lehner, Kate R. Saunders, Michiel van Weele, Karsten Haustein, Sihan Li, David Wallom, Sarah Sparrow, Julie Arrighi, Roop K. Singh, Maarten K. van Aalst, Sjoukje Y. Philip, Robert Vautard, and Friederike E. L. Otto
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 941–960, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-941-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-941-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Southeastern Australia suffered from disastrous bushfires during the 2019/20 fire season, raising the question whether these have become more likely due to climate change. We found no attributable trend in extreme annual or monthly low precipitation but a clear shift towards more extreme heat. However, this shift is underestimated by the models. Analysing fire weather directly, we found that the chance has increased by at least 30 %, but due to the underestimation it could well be higher.
Sarah F. Kew, Sjoukje Y. Philip, Mathias Hauser, Mike Hobbins, Niko Wanders, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Karin van der Wiel, Ted I. E. Veldkamp, Joyce Kimutai, Chris Funk, and Friederike E. L. Otto
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 17–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-17-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-17-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Motivated by the possible influence of rising temperatures, this study synthesises results from observations and climate models to explore trends (1900–2018) in eastern African (EA) drought measures. However, no discernible trends are found in annual soil moisture or precipitation. Positive trends in potential evaporation indicate that for irrigated regions more water is now required to counteract increased evaporation. Precipitation deficit is, however, the most useful indicator of EA drought.
Sjoukje Philip, Sarah Kew, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Friederike Otto, Robert Vautard, Karin van der Wiel, Andrew King, Fraser Lott, Julie Arrighi, Roop Singh, and Maarten van Aalst
Adv. Stat. Clim. Meteorol. Oceanogr., 6, 177–203, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-6-177-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-6-177-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Event attribution studies can now be performed at short notice. We document a protocol developed by the World Weather Attribution group. It includes choices of which events to analyse, the event definition, observational analysis, model evaluation, multi-model multi-method attribution, hazard synthesis, vulnerability and exposure analysis, and communication procedures. The protocol will be useful for future event attribution studies and as a basis for an operational attribution service.
Cited articles
Abatzoglou, J. T. and Williams, A. P.: Impact of anthropogenic climate
change on wildfire across western US forests, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113,
11770–11775, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607171113, 2016.
Abatzoglou, J. T., Williams, A. P., and Barbero, R.: Global Emergence of Anthropogenic Climate Change in Fire Weather Indices, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 326–336, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080959, 2019.
Balch, J. K., Nepstad, D. C., Brando, P. M., Curran, L. M., Portela, O.,
Carvalho, O. D., and Lefebvre, P.: Negative fire feedback in a transitional
forest of southeastern Amazonia, Glob. Change Biol., 14, 2276–2287,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01655.x, 2008.
Balch, J. K., Bradley, B. A., Abatzoglou, J. T., Nagy, R. C., Fusco, E. J.,
and Mahood, A. L.: Human-started wildfires expand the fire niche across the
United States, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 114, 2946–2951,
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1617394114, 2017.
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): ERA5: Fifth generation of
ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate, Copernicus Climate
Change Service Climate Data Store (CDS), available at: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/home (last access: 15 March 2019), 2017.
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P.,
Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P.,
Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C. M., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N.,
Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S.
B., Hersbach, H., Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P.,
Köhler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M.,
Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C.,
Thépaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis:
configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy.
Meteor. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011.
Drobyshev, I., Niklasson, M., and Linderholm, H. W.: Forest fire activity in
Sweden: Climatic controls and geographical patterns in 20th century, Agric.
For. Meteorol., 154–155, 174–186,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2011.11.002, 2012.
Drobyshev, I., Granström, A., Linderholm, H. W., Hellberg, E., Bergeron,
Y., and Niklasson, M.: Multi-century reconstruction of fire activity in
Northern European boreal forest suggests differences in regional fire
regimes and their sensitivity to climate, J. Ecol., 102, 738–748,
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12235, 2014.
Ehret, U., Zehe, E., Wulfmeyer, V., Warrach-Sagi, K., and Liebert, J.: HESS Opinions ”Should we apply bias correction to global and regional climate model data?”, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 3391–3404, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-3391-2012, 2012.
Flannigan, M., Cantin, A. S., de Groot, W. J., Wotton, M., Newbery, A., and Gowman, L. M.: Global wildland fire season severity in the 21st century, Forest Ecol. Manag., 294, 54–61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.10.022, 2013.
Gardelin, M.: Brandriskprognoser med hjälp av en kanadensisk
skogsbrandsmodell, Räddningsverket Report, Myndigheten för
samhällsskydd och Beredskap (MSB), Sweden, 1997.
Gelaro, R., McCarty, W., Suárez, M. J., Todling, R., Molod, A., Takacs,
L., Randles, C. A., Darmenov, A., Bosilovich, M. G., Reichle, R., Wargan,
K., Coy, L., Cullather, R., Draper, C., Akella, S., Buchard, V., Conaty, A.,
Silva, A. M. da, Gu, W., Kim, G.-K., Koster, R., Lucchesi, R., Merkova, D.,
Nielsen, J. E., Partyka, G., Pawson, S., Putman, W., Rienecker, M.,
Schubert, S. D., Sienkiewicz, M., and Zhao, B.: The Modern-Era Retrospective
Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2), J. Climate, 30,
5419–5454, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0758.1, 2017.
Gillett, N. P., Weaver, A. J., Zwiers, F. W., and Flannigan, M. D.:
Detecting the effect of climate change on Canadian forest fires, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 31, L18211, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020876, 2004.
Guillod, B. P., Jones, R. G., Bowery, A., Haustein, K., Massey, N. R., Mitchell, D. M., Otto, F. E. L., Sparrow, S. N., Uhe, P., Wallom, D. C. H., Wilson, S., and Allen, M. R.: weather@home 2: validation of an improved global–regional climate modelling system, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 1849–1872, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-1849-2017, 2017.
Haarsma, R. J., Selten, F., Hurk, B. vd, Hazeleger, W., and Wang, X.: Drier
Mediterranean soils due to greenhouse warming bring easterly winds over
summertime central Europe, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L04705, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036617, 2009.
Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., and Lo, K.: Global Surface Temperature
Change, Rev. Geophys., 48, RG4004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010RG000345, 2010.
Hauser, M., Gudmundsson, L., Orth, R., Jézéquel, A., Haustein, K.,
Vautard, R., Oldenborgh, G. J. van, Wilcox, L., and Seneviratne, S. I.:
Methods and Model Dependency of Extreme Event Attribution: The 2015 European
Drought, Earths Future, 5, 1034–1043, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000612,
2017.
Hazeleger, W., Severijns, C., Semmler, T., Ştefănescu, S., Yang, S.,
Wang, X., Wyser, K., Dutra, E., Baldasano, J. M., Bintanja, R., Bougeault,
P., Caballero, R., Ekman, A. M. L., Christensen, J. H., van den Hurk, B.,
Jimenez, P., Jones, C., Kållberg, P., Koenigk, T., McGrath, R., Miranda,
P., Van Noije, T., Palmer, T., Parodi, J. A., Schmith, T., Selten, F.,
Storelvmo, T., Sterl, A., Tapamo, H., Vancoppenolle, M., Viterbo, P., and
Willén, U.: EC-Earth: A Seamless Earth-System Prediction Approach in
Action, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 91, 1357–1363,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2010BAMS2877.1, 2010.
Hazeleger, W., Wang, X., Severijns, C., Ştefănescu, S., Bintanja,
R., Sterl, A., Wyser, K., Semmler, T., Yang, S., Hurk, B. van den, Noije, T.
van, Linden, E. van der, and Wiel, K. van der: EC-Earth V2.2: description
and validation of a new seamless earth system prediction model, Clim. Dynam.,
39, 2611–2629, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1228-5, 2011.
Herrera, S., Bedia, J., Gutiérrez, J. M., Fernández, J., and Moreno,
J. M.: On the projection of future fire danger conditions with various
instantaneous/mean-daily data sources, Clim. Change, 118, 827–840,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0667-2, 2013.
Ho, C. K., Stephenson, D. B., Collins, M., Ferro, C. A. T., and Brown, S.
J.: Calibration Strategies: A Source of Additional Uncertainty in Climate
Change Projections, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 93, 21–26,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2011BAMS3110.1, 2011.
Hudson, B.: Fighting Fire with Fire? Adjusting Regulatory Regimes and Forest
Product Markets to Mitigate Southern United States Wildfire Risk, Social
Science Research Network, Rochester, NY, 2018.
Kay, J. E., Deser, C., Phillips, A., Mai, A., Hannay, C., Strand, G.,
Arblaster, J. M., Bates, S. C., Danabasoglu, G., Edwards, J., Holland, M.,
Kushner, P., Lamarque, J.-F., Lawrence, D., Lindsay, K., Middleton, A.,
Munoz, E., Neale, R., Oleson, K., Polvani, L., and Vertenstein, M.: The
Community Earth System Model (CESM) Large Ensemble Project: A Community
Resource for Studying Climate Change in the Presence of Internal Climate
Variability, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 1333–1349,
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00255.1, 2014.
Kirchmeier-Young, M. C., Gillett, N. P., Zwiers, F. W., Cannon, A. J., and
Anslow, F. S.: Attribution of the Influence of Human-Induced Climate Change
on an Extreme Fire Season, Earths Future, 7, 2–10, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001050, 2018.
Kobayashi, S., Ota, Y., Harada, Y., Ebita, A., Moriya, M., Onoda, H., Onogi,
K., Kamahori, H., Kobayashi, C., Endo, H., Miyaoka, K., and Takahashi, K.:
The JRA-55 Reanalysis: General Specifications and Basic Characteristics, J.
Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. Ser II, 93, 5–48,
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2015-001, 2015.
Lehtonen, I., Venäläinen, A., Kämäräinen, M., Peltola, H., and Gregow, H.: Risk of large-scale fires in boreal forests of Finland under changing climate, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 239–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-239-2016, 2016.
Lewis, S. C., Blake, S. A. P., Trewin, B., Black, M. T., Dowdy, A. J.,
Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S. E., King, A. D., and Sharples, J. J.: Deconstructing
Factors Contributing to the 2018 Fire Weather in Queensland, Australia,
B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 101, S115–S122,
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0144.1, 2020.
Massey, N., Jones, R., Otto, F. E. L., Aina, T., Wilson, S., Murphy, J. M.,
Hassell, D., Yamazaki, Y. H., and Allen, M. R.: weather@home – development
and validation of a very large ensemble modelling system for probabilistic
event attribution, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 141, 1528–1545,
https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2455, 2015.
Moreira, F. and Pe'er, G.: Agricultural policy can reduce wildfires,
Science, 359, 1001–1001, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1359, 2018.
MSB: Incident reports from municipal fire brigades, Swedish Civ. Conting. Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och Beredsk in Swedish), available at: https://www.msb.se/ (last access: 3 February 2019), 2017.
Oldenborgh, G. J. van, Wiel, K. van der, Sebastian, A., Singh, R., Arrighi,
J., Otto, F., Haustein, K., Li, S., Vecchi, G., and Cullen, H.: Attribution
of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017, Environ. Res. Lett.,
12, 124009, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9ef2, 2017.
Pendergrass, A. G., Knutti, R., Lehner, F., Deser, C., and Sanderson, B. M.:
Precipitation variability increases in a warmer climate, Sci. Rep., 7,
17966, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17966-y, 2017.
Pfleiderer, P. and Coumou, D.: Quantification of temperature persistence over the Northern Hemisphere land-area, Clim. Dyn., 51, 627–637, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3945-x, 2018.
Riahi, K., Rao, S., Krey, V., Cho, C., Chirkov, V., Fischer, G., Kindermann,
G., Nakicenovic, N., and Rafaj, P.: RCP 8.5 – A scenario of comparatively
high greenhouse gas emissions, Clim. Change, 109, 33,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0149-y, 2011.
Schiermeier, Q.: Droughts, heatwaves and floods: How to tell when climate
change is to blame, Nature, 560, 20–22,
https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05849-9, 2018.
Sippel, S., Otto, F. E. L., Flach, M., and van Oldenborgh, G. J.: The Role
of Anthropogenic Warming in 2015 Central European Heat Waves, B. Am.
Meteorol. Soc., 97, S51–S56, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0150.1,
2016.
Taufik, M., Torfs, P. J. J. F., Uijlenhoet, R., Jones, P. D., Murdiyarso,
D., and Van Lanen, H. A. J.: Amplification of wildfire area burnt by
hydrological drought in the humid tropics, Nat. Clim. Change, 7, 428–431,
https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3280, 2017.
Turco, M., Bedia, J., Liberto, F. D., Fiorucci, P., Hardenberg, J. von,
Koutsias, N., Llasat, M.-C., Xystrakis, F., and Provenzale, A.: Decreasing
Fires in Mediterranean Europe, PLOS ONE, 11, e0150663,
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150663, 2016.
Van Wagner, C. E.: Development and structure of the Canadian forest fire index system, Forestry Technical Report, Canadian Forestry Service Headquarters, Ottawa, 1987.
Vautard, R., van Oldenborgh, G. J., Otto, F. E. L., Yiou, P., de Vries, H., van Meijgaard, E., Stepek, A., Soubeyroux, J.-M., Philip, S., Kew, S. F., Costella, C., Singh, R., and Tebaldi, C.: Human influence on European winter wind storms such as those of January 2018, Earth Syst. Dynam., 10, 271–286, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-271-2019, 2019.
van der Wiel, K., Kapnick, S. B., van Oldenborgh, G. J., Whan, K., Philip, S., Vecchi, G. A., Singh, R. K., Arrighi, J., and Cullen, H.: Rapid attribution of the August 2016 flood-inducing extreme precipitation in south Louisiana to climate change, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 897–921, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-897-2017, 2017.
Williams, A. P., Abatzoglou, J. T., Gershunov, A., Guzman-Morales, J.,
Bishop, D. A., Balch, J. K., and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Observed Impacts of
Anthropogenic Climate Change on Wildfire in California, Earths Future, 7,
892–910, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EF001210, 2019.
Wotton, B. M.: Interpreting and using outputs from the Canadian Forest Fire
Danger Rating System in research applications, Environ. Ecol. Stat., 16,
107–131, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10651-007-0084-2, 2009.
Yang, W., Gardelin, M., Olsson, J., and Bosshard, T.: Multi-variable bias correction: application of forest fire risk in present and future climate in Sweden, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 2037–2057, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-2037-2015, 2015.
Short summary
In this study, we analyse the role of climate change in the forest fires that raged through large parts of Sweden in the summer of 2018 from a meteorological perspective. This is done by studying observationally constrained data and multiple climate models. We find a small reduced probability of such events, based on reanalyses, but a small increased probability due to global warming up to now and a more robust increase in the risk for such events in the future, based on climate models.
In this study, we analyse the role of climate change in the forest fires that raged through...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint