Ryan: Wow! It looks like a war zone down there! What's going on?

Inukshuk: Welcome to Canada's biggest and wildest forest.

Ryan: What forest?! It looks like it's all burning down!

Inukshuk: Just another wildfire in the great boreal forest, that evergreen crown of the continent that stretches all the way from Labrador to Alaska. We're in the land of the mighty Mackenzie River, Canada's longest river.

Morgan: Sort of like the Amazon of the Arctic?

Inukshuk: You're not the first to call it that. The Mackenzie's many branches and streams cover two million square kilometres of northern Canada, an area of land almost four times the size of France, most of it covered by spruce forest. Fires have roared through this forest since trees first sprouted here after the last ice age. It's all very normal and natural...

Ryan: (interrupting) How can you talk so casually about a monster fire like that?

Inukshuk: Large areas of boreal forest are levelled by flames every year. Though initially destructive, it is wildfire that sustains this forest's long-term health by pruning out old, unproductive stands and rejuvenating the landscape. I know it looks scary, but...

Ryan: (interrupting again; upset) You're not proposing we go poking around down there!

Morgan: (enthusiastic) How close can we get? I've always wanted to watch a big forest fire up close.

Ryan: What?! Are you a pyromaniac?

Morgan: (trying to calm Ryan) Don't you think it would be cool to just...

Inukshuk: (interrupting) Ground temperatures below a wildfire like this can exceed 400 degrees Celsius. I would hardly call that cool.

Morgan: What I meant was, where I live, out on the tundra, I've never actually seen a wildfire. In the summer we get lots of smoke in the air when the wind blows up from the south. But no fires.

Inukshuk: Stay tuned, my friend. As our climate changes bringing more thunderstorms northward, the tundra too may soon catch fire now and then.

Morgan: Now that you mention it, we have been seeing more lightning lately. Even as far north as Banks Island. Is that what sets these forests on fire? Lightning?

Inukshuk: It's true. As climate changes, thunderstorms are marching farther north, bringing lightning to some arctic communities for the very first time. That's what triggers most fires in the boreal forest and climate models predict more thunderstorms in the future.

Ryan: So what's the big deal? Wouldn't more thunderstorms bring more rain to put the fires out before they get out of hand?

Inukshuk: You might think so. But storm clouds don't always bring rain. How do changing atmospheric conditions affect rain and lightning patterns?  How do forest conditions affect the severity and spread of fires? Weather scientists are asking these kinds of questions to help us predict how climate change may influence wildfires in our northern forests.

Ryan: What's with the balloons? Some kind of party or something?

Inukshuk: These are weather balloons. They carry instruments up into the clouds, to the roof of the atmosphere, measuring things like temperature, air pressure, moisture, wind speed and direction. Sometimes weather scientists will even fly airplanes into the heart of a thunderstorm, taking measurements along the way. It's quite a ride but they can learn a tremendous amount about...

Ryan: (interrupting) Now that's some kind of crazy dedication!

Inukshuk: This line of work is not for everybody.

Morgan: I think I'd rather watch lightning from the ground, thank you.

Inukshuk: They do that as well. In fact, thanks to a computer-based lightning detection system, scientists and forest managers can keep their eyes on hundreds of cloud-to-ground lightning hits from the comfort of their own office chair.

Ryan: Did you say hundreds of lightning hits?

Inukshuk: Thank you for correcting me. I meant to say thousands. For example, in 1999 they recorded over a hundred thousand flashes of lightning in July alone.

Morgan: Wow! That's...let me see...more then 3,000 lightning hits per night?!

Inukshuk: A good show, don't you think?

Morgan: (uncertain) Well...I guess so...but what about all the forest animals and birds in the path of  the fire?... (sounding more concerned) And the people that rely on them? And the communities and cabins out there? This forest isn't deserted. People use it! They live off it! Won't they get caught in all  these...

Inukshuk: (interrupts, trying to calm her down) Certainly not all lightning hits will start a fire. And remember, the northern forest is a fire-dependent ecosystem. It's been that way for thousands of years. And as long as lightning flashes over northern skies and spruce pollen blows in the wind, it always will be. Most climate models predict a rise in lightning-caused fires in our northern forests - we're beginning to see that already. These weather studies will greatly refine such predictions and help the people that live here best prepare for future fires.

Morgan: I guess forest fires are here to stay. As a trapper friend of mine once said, "Whoever created the world, created lightning. If lightning starts fires, he's doing it for a reason".

Ryan: Yeah! But, the trick is staying the heck out of their way!

Morgan: What? Can't handle a bit of lightning?

Image Sources: