Wetter environment and increased grazing reduced the area burned in northern Eurasia from 2002 to 2016

Abstract. Northern Eurasia is currently highly sensitive to climate change. Fires in this region can have significant impacts on regional air quality, radiative forcing and black carbon deposition the Arctic which accelerate ice melting. Using a MODIS-derived burned area dataset, we report that total annual declined by 53 % during 15-year period from 2002 2016. Grassland fires dominated trend, accounting for 93 of decline burned. Kazakhstan contributed 47 84 decline. A wetter increased grazing are principle driving forces Our findings (1) highlight importance complex interactions climate–vegetation–land use affecting fire activity (2) reveal how resulting relatively small such as dominate trends areas across much larger landscape northern Eurasia.