EARTH.COM - We tend to think of wildfires as being caused by hot weather and drought. And for good reason – those weather conditions make plants tinder-dry. But a new study from the University of California, Riverside is flipping that idea on its head. Turns out, the biggest culprit in mega wildfires might be something utterly invisible: carbon dioxide (CO2).
All that extra vegetation becomes fuel for potential fires, especially during hot and dry conditions. And it’s not just the sheer amount of vegetation; the types of plants that thrive in higher CO2 environments can often be more flammable.
This means that in many areas, we have a dangerous combination: more plants overall, plus plants that are naturally prone to burning. “It’s not because it’s hotter that things are burning, it’s because there’s more fuel, in the form of plants,” said James Gomez, UCR doctoral student in Earth and planetary sciences and the lead researcher on the study.