Canada wildfires in 'bullseye' of warming planet trends
Canada wildfires in 'bullseye' of warming planet trends
Kerry Sheridan
May 12, 2016
Miami (AFP) - Experts say climate change is contributing to the wildfires raging across Canada, and the increasing frequency of such fires may overwhelm one of Earth's most important ecosystems, the boreal forest.
In just over a week, an out of control blaze has charred more than 2,290 square kilometers (884 square miles) of land and forced the evacuation of 100,000 people from Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.
Dominated by conifers like pine and spruce, the boreal forest sweeps across Canada, Russia, Alaska and Scandinavia making up about 30 percent of the world's forest cover, and absorbing a big chunk of carbon from the atmosphere.
As crucial as the boreal forest is at reducing the impact of human-driven fossil fuel emissions, it is also increasingly fragile, and expected to become hotter, drier, and more prone to fires in the future.
More:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/canada-wildfires-bullseye-warming-planet-trends-201251282.html?ref=gs
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