Intense Wildfires in Russia over a 22-Year Period According to Satellite Data

Abstract

The spatiotemporal distributions of wildfire areas and FRP values for the territory of Russia and its large regions (the European part of Russia, as well as the Ural, Siberian, and Far Eastern Federal Districts) during 2001–2022 were analyzed using satellite data. For the territory of Russia, there was a decreasing trend in annual burned areas and a small increase in average hotspot FRP. At the same time, the largest annual burned areas in the territory of Russia were recorded in 2008 (295.2 thous. km2), 2002 (272.4 thous. km2), 2006 (261.2 thous. km2), and in 2012 (258.4 thous. km2). It was found that during the studied period, 90% of fire hotspots in Russia had a maximum FRP < 100 MW. The most intense wildfires (FRP > 1500 MW) amounted to only 0.1% and were detected mainly in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts. Interconnections between large wildfires and meteorological factors, including blocking activity in the atmosphere, were revealed.

Temporal and Spatial Analyses of Forest Burnt Area in the Middle Volga Region Based on Satellite Imagery and Climatic Factors

“…Several studies have investigated the dynamics of forest fire behaviour and burnt areas in the different regions of the Russian Federation [13,[52][53][54][55][56]. These studies have revealed differences in the sensitivity of forest fire regimes to climate change and fire return interval (FRI) variability across the territory of the Russian Federation.…”

Interconnections of coal and forest fires in Siberia and Australia:

“…Moreover, longer living gaseous emissions from Siberian fires fill almost completely the extratropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere [6,7]. The 2021 fires in Yakutia (Sakha) and the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia attracted particular attention [8,9].…”