Devastating fires in kangaroo country

Between September 2019 and January 2020, more than 6 million hectares of forest were burned, i.e. 20% of the trees. This is the most destructive fire season ever recorded.

More than a fifth of Australia’s forests have been burned by fires, according to a study announced Monday. The fires came after a drought that had been felt on the continent for several years. Between September 2019 and January 2020, approximately 5.8 million hectares were lost in New South Wales and Victoria. “In the middle of spring (austral) 2019, we realised that a very large proportion of the forests in eastern Australia could be burned in one season,” explained Matthias Boer of Western Sydney Univercity. On average, each year about 2% of Australia’s forests are destroyed by fire [1].

More and more dry seasons

The continent is experiencing more and more dry periods. Andrew King from the University of Melbourne, together with his colleagues, have been studying a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which will have a direct impact on the level of rainfall. Indeed, if the temperature felt at the sea surface is higher than normal in the eastern Indian Ocean and colder in the west, heavy rainfall will be felt in south-eastern Australia. Moreover, according to several scientists, the drought present in the country since 2017 is linked to this IOD [2].

“This means that we have to expect more dry seasons in Australia, and possibly more drought”.

Andrew King

Dangers to fauna and floral

More than 143 million mammals and about 180 million birds were affected by the fire. However, these figures do not give the total number of animals that lost their lives. Indeed, these figures show one aspect compared to those who managed to escape from the flames. However, these animals “are probably not terrible due to a lack of food, shelter and protection from predators,” said Chris Dickman.

The devastating fires also destroyed an area of 115,000 square kilometres, killing 30 people.

References:

[1]: l’AFP-Relaxnews, F. avec. (s. d.). L’Australie est de nouveau frappée par la canicule et des incendies ! Futura. Consulté 15 décembre 2020, à l’adresse https://www.futura-sciences.com/planete/actualites/incendie-australie-nouveau-frappee-canicule-incendies-84441/

[2]: Journal Le Monde. (2020, février 24). Les incendies en Australie ont détruit 20% des forêts. Le Matin. https://www.lematin.ch/story/les-incendies-en-australie-ont-detruit-20-des-forets-452136266589

[3]: Kern, J. (2020, juillet 28). Les méga incendies en Australie ont tué près de 3 milliards d’animaux ! Futura. https://www.futura-sciences.com/planete/actualites/incendie-mega-incendies-australie-ont-tue-pres-3-milliards-animaux-79023