What do you mean, ?megafire??

LINDEY G.D.; DOHERTY T.S.; GEARY W.L.; ARMENTERAS D.; BELCHER C.M.; BLIEGE BIRD R.; DUANE A.; FLETCHER M-S; GIORGIS M.A.; HASLEM A.; JONES G.M.; KELLY L.T.; LEE C.K.F.; NOLAN R.H.; PARR C.L.; PAUSAS J.G.; PRICE J.N.; REGOS A.; RITCHIE E.G.; RUFFAULT J.; WILLIAMSON G.J.; WU Q.; NIMMO D.G.

Global Ecology and Biogeography

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2022

1466-822X

Background: ?Megafire? is an emerging concept commonly used to describe fires thatare extreme in terms of size, behaviour, and/or impacts, but the term?s meaning remainsambiguous.Approach: We sought to resolve ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ?megafire?by conducting a structured review of the use and definition of the term in severallanguages in the peer-reviewedscientific literature. We collated definitions and descriptionsof megafire and identified criteria frequently invoked to define megafire.We recorded the size and location of megafires and mapped them to reveal globalvariation in the size of fires described as megafires.Results: We identified 109 studies that define the term ?megafire? or identify a megafire,with the term first appearing in the peer-reviewedliterature in 2005. Seventy-one(~65%) of these studies attempted to describe or define the term. There wasconsiderable variability in the criteria used to define megafire, although definitionsof megafire based on fire size were most common. Megafire size thresholds variedgeographically from > 100?100,000ha, with fires > 10,000 ha the most commonsize threshold (41%, 18/44 studies). Definitions of megafire were most common fromstudies led by authors from North America (52%, 37/71). We recorded 137 instancesfrom 84 studies where fires were reported as megafires, the vast majority (94%,129/137) of which exceed 10,000 ha in size. Megafires occurred in a range of biomes,but were most frequently described in forested biomes (112/137, 82%), and usuallydescribed single ignition fires (59% 81/137).Conclusion: As Earth?s climate and ecosystems change, it is important that scientistscan communicate trends in the occurrence of larger and more extreme fires with clarity.To overcome ambiguity, we suggest a definition of megafire as fires > 10,000 haarising from single or multiple related ignition events. We introduce two additionalterms ?gigafire(> 100,000 ha) and terafire (> 1,000,000 ha) ?forfires of an evenlarger scale than megafires.