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MISSOULA – New University of Montana research suggests recurring continent-spanning drought patterns set the tempo for forest recovery from wildfire.
A study published Nov. 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that forest recovery from fire follows a drought seesaw, called a climate dipole, that alternates between the Northwest and the Southwest every few years.
The researchers examined the relationship between this drought seesaw and post-fire regeneration of ponderosa pine across the Interior West of the U.S. They found that severe droughts under climate change are...