'Extraordinary' fires burnt at historical size, beyond climate projections | p_hannam
Australia's bushfires were not only "extraordinary" in scale but also exposed deficiencies in the climate models that are struggling to identify changes in rainfall and fire weather trends.published on Tuesday, scientists found the size of fires in NSW and Victoria were larger than any recorded since European settlement in Australia.
By contrast, average annual burnt areas for other continental forests were "well below 5 per cent" over the past 20 years. Taking Asian and African tropical and sub-tropical dry broadleaf forests alone, median annual losses were 8-9 per cent and the largest event about 13 per cent - well short of Australia's big event.
His team found the unusually long period since the last wet year was "the primary reason for the long-lasting dry conditions". That knowledge gap could leave Australia under-prepared should drought become worse in the future, he said, adding, "It's holding us back in terms of adaptation."
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