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Journal Article

Alberta wildfire 2016: Apt contribution from anomalous planetary wave dynamics

Authors
/persons/resource/petoukhov

Petoukhov,  Vladimir
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/petri

Petri,  Stefan
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/kornhuber

Kornhuber,  Kai
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Kirsten.Thonicke

Thonicke,  Kirsten
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/coumou

Coumou,  Dim
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/emdir

Schellnhuber,  Hans Joachim
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

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Fulltext (public)

8173oa.pdf
(Publisher version), 3MB

Supplementary Material (public)
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Citation

Petoukhov, V., Petri, S., Kornhuber, K., Thonicke, K., Coumou, D., Schellnhuber, H. J. (2018): Alberta wildfire 2016: Apt contribution from anomalous planetary wave dynamics. - Scientific Reports, 8, 12375.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30812-z


Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_22593
Abstract
In May-June 2016 the Canadian Province of Alberta suffered one of the most devastating wildfires in its history. Here we show that in mid-April to early May 2016 the large-scale circulation in the mid- and high troposphere of the middle and sub-polar latitudes of the northern hemisphere featured a persistent high-amplitude planetary wave structure dominated by the non-dimensional zonal wave number 4. The strongest anticyclonic wing of this structure was located over western Canada. In combination with a very strong El Niño event in winter 2015/2016 this favored highly anomalous, tinder-dry and high-temperature conditions at the surface in that area, entailing an increased fire hazard there. This critically contributed to the ignition of the Alberta Wildfire in May 2016, appearing to be the costliest disaster in Canadian history thus far.