Drought, controlled fire, warming linked

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A link between drought and deforestation was found to be fueling global warming, a U.S. scientist and co-author of a study reported.

The international study analyzed six years of climate and fire observations from satellites, finding that during the dry years, using fire to clear forests and remove organic soil increases substantially, releasing vast amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the University of California-Irvine said in a news release.

"Land managers respond to the drought by using fire to clear more land. In dry years, they burn deeper into the forest, which in turn releases more carbon dioxide," said James Randerson, climate scientist at Cal-Irvine and co-author of the study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings illustrate why limits on deforestation should be a major part of future climate agreements, Randerson said. The results demonstrate that forecasting drought may be important when countries allocate resources to combat illegally set fires and clearing.

"The link between drought and deforestation is very sensitive," Randerson said. "If the climate warms and there are more droughts, it potentially makes the forest and its stored carbon more vulnerable."