Dr. Mike Flannigan

BC Innovation Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science, Faculty of Science

Dr. Mike Flannigan's primary research interests include fire and weather/climate interactions, including the potential impact of climatic change, lightning-ignited forest fires, landscape fire modelling and interactions between vegetation, fire, and weather. He uses machine learning approaches to better model and predict wildfire activity to inform the development of a wildfire early warning system and improve fire management planning and operations.

Mike was the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Wildland Fire (2002-2008) and has taken on leadership roles with the US National Assessment on Global Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Fire Fast Track Initiative and Global Change Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) efforts on the global impacts of fire. He is a regular media commentator on Canadian wildland fire science topics, including fire mitigation, fire weather and climate change.

Education and credentials

• B.Sc. Physics, University of Manitoba
• M.Sc. Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University
• Ph.D. Plant Sciences, Cambridge University
• Meteorologist MT35, Environment Canada

Experience

• 2021 - Present | Thompson Rivers University
  BC Innovation Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science, Department of Natural Resource Science
• 2010 - Present | Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science (Canada Wildfire)
  Science Director
• 2021 - Present | University of Alberta
  Professor Emeritus
• 2012 - 2021 | University of Alberta
  Professor of Wildland Fire, Department of Renewable Resources
• 1981 - 2012 | Natural Resources Canada
  Canadian Forest Services

Media

• CBC - “World on Fire” Podcast
• CTV News - “Here's how wildfires are starting: Experts answer your questions”
• CBC - The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay, “What 2023’s wildfire season tells us about the changing risk of fire in Canada”
• The Conversation Canada - “How will Canada manage its wildfires in the future?”
• CBC - Nature of Things, “Into the Fire”

Publications

• Flannigan, M.D., Krawchuk, M.A., de Groot, W.J., Wotton, B.M. and Gowman, L.M. 2009. Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 18:483-507.
• Weber, M.G. and Flannigan, M.D. 1997. Canadian boreal forest ecosystem structure and function in a changing climate: Impacts on fire regimes. Environmental Reviews. 5:145-166.
• Jain, P., Castellanos-Acuna, D., Coogan, S.C.P. Abatzoglou, J.T., and Flannigan, M.D. 2021. Observed increases in extreme fire weather driven by atmospheric humidity and temperature. Nature Climate Change.
• Flannigan, M.D., Cantin, A.S., de Groot, W.J. Wotton, M. Newbery, A. and Gowman, L.M. 2013. Global wildland fire season severity in the 21st century. Forest Ecology and Management. 294:64-71.

Affiliations

• Canada Wildfire
  Science Director
• The Canada Wildfire NSERC Strategic Network
  Principal Investigator and Science Director