Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984 – 2021
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Abstract
Fire facilitates erosion through changes in vegetation and soil, with major postfire erosion commonly occurring even with moderate rainfall. As climate warms, the western United States (U.S.) is experiencing an intensifying fire regime and increasing frequency of extreme rain. We evaluated whether these hydroclimatic changes are evident in patterns of postfire erosion by modeling hillslope erosion following all wildfires larger than 100 km2 in California from 1984 to 2021. Our results show that annual statewide postfire hillslope erosion has increased significantly over time. To supplement the hillslope erosion modeling, we compiled modeled and measured postfire debris-flow volumes. We find that, in northern California, more than 50% of fires triggering the top 20 values of sediment mass and sediment yield occurred in the most recent decade (between 2011 and 2021). In southern California, the postfire sediment budget was dominated by debris flows, which showed no temporal trend. Our analysis reveals that 57% of postfire sediment erosion statewide occurred upstream of reservoirs, indicating potential impacts to reservoir storage capacity and thus increased risk to water-resource security with ongoing climate change.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984 – 2021 |
| Series title | Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface |
| DOI | 10.1029/2024JF007725 |
| Volume | 129 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Year Published | 2024 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Geophysical Union |
| Contributing office(s) | Geologic Hazards Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | e2024JF007725, 23 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |