Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today's megafires are truly unusual
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:30
in Earth & Climate
Today's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model and found that today's dry, hot climate combined with the past century of human fire suppression is causing megafires.