A new study finds 2023 fire conditions may have been made worse by a lack of sea ice and warm oceans on the other side of the planet.
The most destructive on record, Canada’s 2023 wildfire season burned 172,000 square kilometres — an area larger than South Korea and Ireland combined.
Now, new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Tuesday, has found warmer North Atlantic waters and reduced sea ice in the Barents Sea could be responsible for 80 per cent of the fire weather that hung over Canada in 2023. The authors, largely drawn from Peking University’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, also found that diminished sea ice led to a high-pressure centre that strengthened dry winds coming out of Canada’s north.
“These combined mechanisms lead to prolonged droughts, heat waves, and increased northerly winds, creating favourable conditions for the generation and southward spread of wildfires,” wrote the authors.
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