Human Activity More than Doubles Fire Occurrence in the Arctic

Instanz: TeilenTeilen:Human Activity More than Doubles Fire Occurrence in the ArcticKurt Bodenmüller KommunikationUniversität Zürich05.08.2026 09:00The occurrence of fires in the Arctic is linked not only to warming temperatures and increasingly dry conditions, but also human activity in the region. We also found that fire occurrence was higher closer to lit areas, suggesting a strong spatial association between light-emitting human activity and Arctic fire occurrence," says Cengiz Akandil, a postdoctoral researcher at UZH and first author of the study. The findings nevertheless show that human activity also plays an important role. This suggests that fire management, prevention measures, and firefighting capacities may help explain regional differences in fire occurrence associated with human activity. Human activity increases Arctic fire occurrence within and near lit areas.