Tunisian authorities evacuating citizens after outbreak of forest fires
Tunisian authorities evacuating citizens after outbreak of forest fires
02 August 2017
published by http://english.alarabiya.net
Tunisia – The Tunisian authorities have evacuated dozens of citizens from their homes in the northwestern Ain Draham and Fernana areas, following the outbreak of fire in some of the neighboring forests.
Operations to put the fire down are still underway. The country’s heat wave led to the outbreak of fires in some forests in the center and northwest of the country which spread to hundreds of hectares of trees and green spaces. Firefighters are struggling to put the fire down because of the high temperatures and the sirocco.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Interior Ministry said that some of the fires in several areas of Jendouba state in the northwest of the country have been controlled while some are still burning.
There have been no record of any casualties due to fires in forests, which were chiefly located in the areas of Ain Dharam and Fernana, while the heat wave is making the situation worse, they added.
The fire burned several houses, forcing the residents to flee their homes and collect their belongings before the authorities intervened to evacuate them until the completion of the fire operations.
A number of centers have been prepared for accommodation. Similar fires have erupted in Algeria, Morocco, Italy and France, which have led to the evacuation of thousands of people to safe areas due to the heat wave experienced in this period.
An international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.
Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heighteneddrought conditions and an increase inwildfire numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.
“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCpAn international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.
Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heighteneddrought conditions and an increase inwildfire numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.
“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCp
