Climatic influences on fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Zuni Mountains, NM, USA
The authors characterized the fire history of ponderosa pine forests in the Zuni Mountains and examined historic relationships between climate and fire using Superposed Epoch Analysis (SEA) and Bivariate Event Analysis (BEA).
The authors found that fire was highly synchronous across the region and were associated with climate conditions. Their analysis found strong relationships between dry years, preceded by one or two wetter years, with increased fire activity across the region. Specifically, widespread fire years were synchronous with negative, extreme PDSI events while fire was asynchronous when PDSI was positive. The authors also found stronger relationships with interannual climate variability than with long-term, mulidecadal climate cycles driven by the ENSO.
Climate and Fire Linkages
The authors found that fire was highly synchronous across the region and were associated with climate conditions. Their analysis found strong relationships between dry years, preceded by one or two wetter years, with increased fire activity across the region. Specifically, widespread fire years were synchronous with negative, extreme PDSI events while fire was asynchronous when PDSI was positive. The authors also found stronger relationships with interannual climate variability than with long-term, mulidecadal climate cycles driven by the ENSO.