Why does australia have a bushfire problem

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Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in. A visual guide to Australia's bushfire crisis. What is Australia doing to tackle climate change? Which animals fare best and worst in fires?

Is climate change to blame for Australia's fires? How do you fight extreme wildfires? Image source, AFP. Where are the fires? This includes areas around Sydney and Adelaide. How big are the Australia fires? Image source, EPA. A visual guide to Australia's bushfire crisis The beach town where fires turned day to night. How did the Australia fires start? Image source, Getty Images. Sydney has been covered by thick smoke from bushfires outside of the city.

Are the Australia fires caused by climate change? What is climate change? How are the fires fought? Who is fighting the fires? The sacrifices of Australia's unpaid firefighters Medal for dead firefighter given to toddler son. How many animals have died in the fires? Zookeeper takes animals home to save them from fire. What is the government doing?

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NSW also had its driest year. A visualisation from Prof Nerilie Abram, a climate scientist at the Australian National University, examines hot and dry years in Australia since and how they correlate with major bushfires. Fire authorities and the Bureau of Meteorology look at the risk of bushfires using the forest fire danger index , a combined measure of temperature, humidity, wind speed and the dryness, but not the amount, of fuel on the ground.

Positive dipole events draw moisture away from Australia and tend to deliver less rainfall. But there is evidence that the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are also impacting the dipole and another phenomenon, known as the southern annular mode SAM.

A study in the journal Nature Communications found the number of extreme positive dipole events goes up as climate heating continues. This phase was generated by a sudden warming event in the stratosphere above Antarctica.