Reacción a "Extreme fires have doubled in the last 20 years "

In recent years we have experienced a certain social alarm about the worsening of fires, with catastrophic seasons in regions such as the Amazon, Australia or even the Iberian Peninsula, where some events have reached an unprecedented extent. However, there is little scientific evidence to support this perception at the planetary level. 

This study demonstrates how extreme events, defined as the 0.01% of areas or tiles (22 × 22km) with the highest instantaneous energy released during a day, have doubled in the last two decades globally, mainly due to increased fire intensity in temperate and boreal coniferous forests, two key carbon storage biomes. The results are based on Fire Radiative Power (FRP) data from the MODIS satellite between 2003 and 2023. This source has significant spatial and temporal limitations to accurately characterise individual events, but is consistent over time and therefore robust for general trend analysis using large amounts of data. The results of the study are therefore robust and provide further evidence of the changing context in which we find ourselves, with a focus on the effects of climate change. 

The results are far-reaching, as they reveal how we are changing the frequency of extreme events globally, which impacts a multitude of socio-economic and ecological aspects. However, we must be cautious not to confuse global trends with regional trends, as no significant trends were detected for the biomes that concern us in the Iberian Peninsula. Likewise, we should not lose sight of trends in burned area when determining the evolution of certain factors, such as the contribution of fires to carbon emissions or atmospheric pollution.