Spatio-Temporal Domains of Wildfire-Prone Teleconnection Patterns in the Western Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

This work explores the main climate teleconnections influencing the Western Mediterranean Basin to outline homogeneous fire-prone weather domains combining cross-correlation time series and cluster analysis. We found a zonal effect of the Scandinavian pattern over the entire region with an interesting alternation of phases from positive during winter-spring (increased rainfall leading to fuel accumulation) to negative (dry conditions) modes during summer controlling burned area and fire size. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) dominates the number of fires over the Iberian Peninsula (IP) while the Western Mediterranean Oscillation pattern modulates fire activity over the Mediterranean coast in the IP (linked to westerly winds), Southern France, Corsica and Sardinia (rainfall regulation). These distinctive influence traits resulted in three different domains splitting the IP into a Mediterranean rim along the coast (from southern Spain to southwestern France) and an inland and western region (Portugal plus western Spain); and a third in southeastern France, Corsica and Sardinia.