Articles | Volume 22, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7591-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7591-2025
Research article
 | 
03 Dec 2025
Research article |  | 03 Dec 2025

Global wildfire patterns and drivers under climate change

Hemraj Bhattarai, Maria Val Martin, Stephen Sitch, David H. Y. Yung, and Amos P. K. Tai

Related authors

Global Carbon Budget 2025
Pierre Friedlingstein, Michael O'Sullivan, Matthew W. Jones, Robbie M. Andrew, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Judith Hauck, Peter Landschützer, Corinne Le Quéré, Hongmei Li, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Stephen Sitch, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Kjetil Aas, Simone R. Alin, Peter Anthoni, Leticia Barbero, Nicholas R. Bates, Nicolas Bellouin, Alice Benoit-Cattin, Carla F. Berghoff, Raffaele Bernardello, Laurent Bopp, Ida B. M. Brasika, Matthew A. Chamberlain, Naveen Chandra, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Nathan O. Collier, Thomas H. Colligan, Margot Cronin, Laique Djeutchouang, Xinyu Dou, Matt P. Enright, Kazutaka Enyo, Michael Erb, Wiley Evans, Richard A. Feely, Liang Feng, Daniel J. Ford, Adrianna Foster, Filippa Fransner, Thomas Gasser, Marion Gehlen, Thanos Gkritzalis, Jefferson Goncalves De Souza, Giacomo Grassi, Luke Gregor, Nicolas Gruber, Bertrand Guenet, Özgür Gürses, Kirsty Harrington, Ian Harris, Jens Heinke, George C. Hurtt, Yosuke Iida, Tatiana Ilyina, Akihiko Ito, Andrew R. Jacobson, Atul K. Jain, Tereza Jarníková, Annika Jersild, Fei Jiang, Steve D. Jones, Etsushi Kato, Ralph F. Keeling, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Jürgen Knauer, Yawen Kong, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Charles Koven, Taro Kunimitsu, Xin Lan, Junjie Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, Zhu Liu, Claire Lo Monaco, Lei Ma, Gregg Marland, Patrick C. McGuire, Galen A. McKinley, Joe Melton, Natalie Monacci, Erwan Monier, Eric J. Morgan, David R. Munro, Jens D. Müller, Shin-Ichiro Nakaoka, Lorna R. Nayagam, Yosuke Niwa, Tobias Nutzel, Are Olsen, Abdirahman M. Omar, Naiqing Pan, Sudhanshu Pandey, Denis Pierrot, Zhangcai Qin, Pierre A. G. Regnier, Gregor Rehder, Laure Resplandy, Alizée Roobaert, Thais M. Rosan, Christian Rödenbeck, Jörg Schwinger, Ingunn Skjelvan, T. Luke Smallman, Victoria Spada, Mohanan G. Sreeush, Qing Sun, Adrienne J. Sutton, Colm Sweeney, Didier Swingedouw, Roland Séférian, Shintaro Takao, Hiroaki Tatebe, Hanqin Tian, Xiangjun Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Hiroyuki Tsujino, Francesco Tubiello, Erik van Ooijen, Guido van der Werf, Sebastiaan J. van de Velde, Anthony Walker, Rik Wanninkhof, Xiaojuan Yang, Wenping Yuan, Xu Yue, and Jiye Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-659,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-659, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Global and Regional Impacts of Forest Expansion on Future Wildfires
James A. King, Kimberley J. Simpson, Christopher G. Bousfield, and Maria Val Martin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5267,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5267, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
Modelling impacts of ozone on gross primary production across European forest ecosystems using JULES
Inês Vieira, Félicien Meunier, Maria Carolina Duran Rojas, Stephen Sitch, Flossie Brown, Giacomo Gerosa, Silvano Fares, Pascal Boeckx, Marijn Bauters, and Hans Verbeeck
Biogeosciences, 22, 6205–6223, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6205-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6205-2025, 2025
Short summary
Gross primary productivity of forest ecosystems in a subtropical city and its decadal climatic and environmental drivers
Hayden Chak Hay Lam, David Ho Yin Yung, Donald Ka Chuen Tao, Joshua Tsz Wo Lo, Man Sing Wong, Jin Wu, and Amos Pui Kuen Tai
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4647,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4647, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
Effects of enhancing nitrogen use efficiency in cropland and livestock systems on agricultural ammonia emissions and particulate matter air quality in China
Biao Luo, Lei Liu, David H. Y. Yung, Tiangang Yuan, Jingwei Zhang, Leo T. H. Ng, and Amos P. K. Tai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 10089–10108, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10089-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10089-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Abatzoglou, J. T. and Williams, A. P.: Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests, PNAS, 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. 
Aldersley, A., Murray, S. J., and Cornell, S. E.: Global and regional analysis of climate and human drivers of wildfire, Sci. Total Environ., 409, 3472–3481, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.05.032, 2011. 
Allen, R. J., Gomez, J., Horowitz, L. W., and Shevliakova, E.: Enhanced future vegetation growth with elevated carbon dioxide concentrations could increase fire activity, Commun. Earth Environ., 5, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01228-7, 2024.  
Download
Short summary
Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, posing various risks. We explore how future climate conditions will influence global wildfire activity and carbon emissions by 2100. Using advanced computer modeling, we found that while some regions remain stable, boreal forests will see a major rise in burned area and emissions. These changes are driven by drier conditions and increased vegetation growth, highlighting the urgent need for better fire management strategies.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint