Forest fires occurrences and their teleconection with enso phenomena

Abstract

Forest fires cause great damages to the ecosystems. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections are useful tools to provide opportune information on forest fire behavior. The objective of this study was to assess wildfire occurrence and its teleconnections with ENSO indexes in the State of Durango, Mexico. Using a correlation approach, Pearson coefficient was calculated for the relationship between the number of fires (NF) and ENSO indexes in the period 2001 to 2010. Additionally, linear regression was used to develop a model for NF as a function of the annual value of the ENSO index (P < 0.1). Results indicated that the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) showed similar trends during the period analyzed (r = 0.74, P = 0.0138) and explained 55 % of the variance (R2) of model regression, indicating that NF had correspondences with MEI in synchronous periods. It was concluded that ENSO has connectivity with forest fires in the state of Durango.