{"id":88811,"date":"2018-12-18T10:53:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=88811"},"modified":"2019-03-27T14:44:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T00:44:46","slug":"increased-wildfires-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/12\/18\/increased-wildfires-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Study links climate change to increased risk of Hawai\u02bbi wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/manoa-ctahr-wildfires-2.jpg\" alt=\"helicopter dropping water on wildfire in Hawaii\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-88834\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/manoa-ctahr-wildfires-2.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/manoa-ctahr-wildfires-2-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The first study linking climate change to an increased probability of wildfires in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> also weighs the increased risks facing tropical regions around the world, according to University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> at M\u0101noa researcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/site\/Bio.aspx?ID=TRAUEPAR\"><strong>Clay Trauernicht<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Based on changes in rainfall and temperature due to climate change, the annual risk of wildfire could increase up to 375 percent for parts of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Island, the analysis shows.<\/p>\n<p>Lead researcher Trauernicht, of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/nrem\/\">Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management<\/a>, tracked the &ldquo;footprints&rdquo; of historical fires on <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Island. His research shows how vegetation, ignition frequency and climate contribute to wildfire probability.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The increased risk of fire stems from drought conditions due to low rainfall, as well as increased rainfall in the months prior to drought,&rdquo; Trauernicht said. &ldquo;This is because wet conditions mean greater growth of non-native grasses, which are the greatest fuel for wildfires in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>. Wet summer weather, combined with dry winter conditions, is characteristic of El Ni&#241;o conditions and this winter looks likely to be another El Ni&#241;o.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>A troubling outlook<\/h2>\n<p>Most of this change is anticipated to happen within the next several decades.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Conditions for fire are likely to worsen significantly by mid-century,&rdquo; said Trauernicht. &ldquo;The analysis also confirms patterns we\u2019re already seeing in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>. High rainfall in the 2017&#8211;2018 winter, followed by late-summer drought, contributed to nearly 30,000 acres burning across the state this August.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article at the <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/NewsLetter\/climate-and-vegetation-shape-wildfire-risk-in-hawaii\">College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources website<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.wixstatic.com\/ugd\/81f7ef_c0f5c9ef0ee141a9b1177da100013e40.pdf\">download the paper published in <em>Science of the Total Environment<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first study linking climate change to an increased probability of wildfires in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> also weighs the increased risks facing tropical regions around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[93,212,899,1363,544,158,9],"class_list":["post-88811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-climate-change","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-ecology","tag-manoa-research","tag-natural-resources-and-environmental-management","tag-publication","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88811"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89184,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88811\/revisions\/89184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}