Sun et al. (2026) Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Attribution of Global Wildfire Burned

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Remote Sensing
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-14
• Authors: Anqi Sun, Yan Xia, Fei Xie, Guocan Wu, Y. H. Mao
• DOI: 10.3390/rs18020262

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study analyzed global wildfire spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors from 1982 to 2018 using satellite-derived burned area data. It found a significant increase in global burned area over this period, with varying drivers such as hot/dry conditions, fuel availability, and surface dryness across different climate-based fire-prone regions.

Objective

• To comprehensively understand the long-term spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of global wildfires from 1982 to 2018.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, with classification into four climate-based fire-prone regions: Tropical dry season (Tr-ds), Arid fuel-limited (Ar-fl), Boreal hot season (Bo-hs), and Temperate dry and hot season (Te-dhs).
• Temporal Scale: 1982 to 2018 (37 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly stated as a specific model; analysis based on a global satellite-derived burned area product.
• Data sources: Global satellite-derived burned area (BA) product.

Main Results

• The global multi-year average burned area is 4.59 × 10^12 m^2 per year.
• Major fire hotspots include Africa (average 3.04 × 10^12 m^2 per year) and northern Australia (average 2.83 × 10^11 m^2 per year).
• Global fire activity peaks annually during July–September and December–January.
• From 1982 to 2018, both global and sub-regional burned areas show significant increasing trends, with exceptions in northern and temperate areas.
• Wildfire activity is strongly associated with hot and dry conditions combined with abundant fuel availability at the global scale and in the Tr-ds region.
• Fire activity in the Ar-fl region is primarily constrained by fuel availability.
• Surface dryness plays a dominant role in fire activity in the Bo-hs region.
• Fire activity in the Te-dhs region shows no clear pattern regarding influencing factors.
• The influence of different factors on the burned area is subject to threshold effects.

Contributions

• Provides a deeper understanding of long-term (1982-2018) global wildfire dynamics, including spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors across different climate-based regions.
• Identifies regional variations in the primary drivers of wildfire activity (e.g., hot/dry conditions, fuel availability, surface dryness).

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Sun2026Spatiotemporal,
  author = {Sun, Anqi and Xia, Yan and Xie, Fei and Wu, Guocan and Mao, Y. H.},
  title = {Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Attribution of Global Wildfire Burned},
  journal = {Remote Sensing},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/rs18020262},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18020262}
}