According to the website of the United Kingdom "Nature" magazine recently reported, the recent wildfires that have ravaged large areas of western North America are not only large-scale and spread rapidly, but also caused "fire cumulonimbus clouds". Researchers say that with global warming, disasters caused by cumulus clouds are becoming more common.
According to reports, on July 24, a wildfire broke out in northern California, United States, and the fire spread to more than 140,000 hectares in less than three days, and has burned more than 160,000 hectares of land in northern California. Around the same time, wildfires in Jasper National Park in Canada destroyed about a third of the town of Jasper. Both major wildfires caused "fire cumulonimbus clouds".
Volcanic eruptions, forest fires, etc., can cause "pyrocumulus clouds". When the heat and updrafts are strong enough, the pycumulonimbus escalates to "cumulonimbus". The report quoted Mike · Flanigan, a researcher at Thompson Rivers University in Canada, as saying that "pyrocumulonimbus clouds" not only produce thunderstorms that cause new fires several kilometers away from the main fire site, but can also trigger air movements to form wind, leading to faster and unpredictable fire spread.
Frankenegan said that before 2023, the global record was 102 "fire cumulonimbus" detections in a year, 50 of which occurred in Canada. However, last year Canada alone reported 140 cases of "fire cumulonimbus" phenomena. So far this year, the number of "pyrocumulonimbus" clouds in Canada is also higher than normal.
As global warming, hot, dry, windy weather becomes more common, and forests are becoming drier and more flammable, researchers say. The key to preventing these extreme fires is to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Source丨Xinhuanet
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