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Article
Broad-Scale Surface and Atmospheric Conditions During Large Fires in South-Central Chile
Fire
  • David B. McWethy, Montana State University
  • René D. Garreaud, Universidad de Chile, Santiago
  • Andres Holz, Portland State University
  • Gregory T. Pederson, U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2021
Subjects
  • Wildfires -- research,
  • Wildfire risk -- Chile
Disciplines
Abstract

The unprecedented size of the 2017 wildfires that burned nearly 600,000 hectares of central Chile highlight a need to better understand the climatic conditions under which large fires develop. Here we evaluate synoptic atmospheric conditions at the surface and free troposphere associated with anomalously high (active) versus low (inactive) months of area burned in south-central Chile (ca. 32–41° S) from the Chilean Forest Service (CONAF) record of area burned from 1984–2018. Active fire months are correlated with warm surface temperatures, dry conditions, and the presence of a circumpolar assemblage of high-pressure systems located ca. 40°–60° S. Additionally, warm surface temperatures associated with active fire months are linked to reduced strength of cool, onshore westerly winds and an increase in warm, downslope Andean Cordillera easterly winds. Episodic warm downslope winds and easterly wind anomalies superimposed on long-term warming and drying trends will continue to create conditions that promote large fires in south-central Chile. Identifying the mechanisms responsible for easterly wind anomalies and determining whether this trend is strengthening due to synoptic-scale climatic changes such as the poleward shift in Southern Hemisphere westerly winds will be critical for anticipating future large fire activity in south-central Chile.

Rights

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

DOI
10.3390/fire4020028
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35855
Citation Information
McWethy, D. B., Garreaud, R. D., Holz, A., & Pederson, G. T. (2021). Broad-Scale Surface and Atmospheric Conditions during Large Fires in South-Central Chile. Fire, 4(2), 28. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4020028