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Estimating wildfire response costs in Alaska's changing climate
Citation:
Estimating wildfire response costs in Alaska's changing climate. CLIMATIC CHANGE. Springer Netherlands, , Netherlands.
Impact/Purpose:
Estimate climate-driven changes in future wildfire response costs in Alaska.
Description:
Climate change is altering wildfire activity across Alaska, with increased area burned projected for the future. Changes in wildfire are expected to affect the need for management and suppression resources, however the potential economic implications of these needs have not been evaluated. We projected land area burned and associated response costs to 2100 under relatively high and low climate forcing scenarios (representative concentration pathways (RCP) 8.5 and 4.5) using the Alaskan Frame-based Ecosystem Code (ALFRESCO) model. We calculated unique response costs for each of the four fire management options (FMOs) currently used in Alaska that vary in suppression level. These findings indicate that climate change will have continued impacts on wildfire response costs across Alaska that vary among FMOs and global GHG emissions futures.
