Assessment of fire events in Argentinian Andean-Patagonian Forests between 2002-2020#
Team “Tyrannosaurus Tango Dolce”
Franco Barrionuevo, Raphael Rocha, Cristian Farfan, Ricardo Rengifo, Luciana Rojas
Mentor: Brittany Engle
The Argentinian Andean-Patagonian Forest (AAPF) is a highly biodiverse temperate forest in South America. This area is being threatened by the intensification of climatic conditions that favor the occurrence of fires. However, assessing AAPF fire events is challenging due to a high climatological and geographic variability. Previous analyses were focused on smaller regions and did not consider the north-south distribution of fires. In this study, satellite-derived data was used to analyze burned areas in AAPF during the 2001-2020 period, and explained its variability in the north-south direction. Two key areas impacted by fires were identified, highlighting the northern AAPF as the most affected region. The study revealed the intricate relationship between fires and climatic and geographic variability. This assessment serves as a basis for future research on climate change impacts and fire risk prediction in AAPF, emphasizing the need for informed conservation strategies in this ecologically important region.
The full micropublication will be shared here at the end of March 2024.