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Personal profile

Biography

I am a physical geographer specialising in the impacts of climate change on wildfire and the consequences for society and the carbon cycle. My research has raised alarm about the rising extent and severity of forest fires globally and advanced how climate models represent fire impacts on the carbon cycle.

My research group at UEA are studying the impact of climate change, ignition patterns, and land use on fire extent and severity, and evaluating the potential for forest management to mitigate wilder fires in future. We are focussing our research on the prediction and mitigation of wildfires with greatest potential to cause damage to society, ecosystems, and natural capital.

I co-lead the State of Wildfires Report, an annual initiative of an international network of fire scientists. This report examines the causes of extreme wildfire events of the latest fire season, evaluates future wildfire risks under climate change, and identifies opportunities to minimise risk through climate action and land management practices.

As a member of the Global Carbon Project (GCP), I contribute to the leading international effort to monitor of the global carbon budget and evaluate how people have disturbed the carbon cycle and climate through fossil fuel emissions and land use. Our findings are used by governments and international organisations to understand and quantify the human footprint on Earth's climate.

Notable Research Outputs:

  • Jones, M. W., Veraverbeke, S., Andela, N., Doerr, S. H., Kolden, C., Mataveli, G., ... & Abatzoglou, J. T. (2024). Global rise in forest fire emissions linked to climate change in the extratropics. Science386(6719), eadl5889.
  • Jones, M. W., Kelley, D. I., Burton, C. A., Di Giuseppe, F., Barbosa, M. L. F., Brambleby, E., ... & Xanthopoulos, G. (2024). State of wildfires 2023–2024. Earth System Science Data16(8), 3601-3685.
  • Janssen, T. A., Jones, M. W., Finney, D., Van der Werf, G. R., van Wees, D., Xu, W., & Veraverbeke, S. (2023). Extratropical forests increasingly at risk due to lightning fires. Nature Geoscience16(12), 1136-1144.
  • Jones, M. W., Peters, G. P., Gasser, T., Andrew, R. M., Schwingshackl, C., Gütschow, J., ... & Le Quéré, C. (2023). National contributions to climate change due to historical emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide since 1850. Scientific Data10(1), 155.
  • Jones, M. W., Abatzoglou, J. T., Veraverbeke, S., Andela, N., Lasslop, G., Forkel, M., ... & Le Quéré, C. (2022). Global and regional trends and drivers of fire under climate change. Reviews of Geophysics60(3), e2020RG000726.
  • Bowring, S. P., Jones, M. W., Ciais, P., Guenet, B., & Abiven, S. (2022). Pyrogenic carbon decomposition critical to resolving fire’s role in the Earth system. Nature Geoscience15(2), 135-142.
  • Jones, M. W., Santín, C., van der Werf, G. R., & Doerr, S. H. (2019). Global fire emissions buffered by the production of pyrogenic carbon. Nature Geoscience12(9), 742-747.

Academic Background

PhD in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter (2014-2018). Evaluated the impacts of fire on the quantity and quality of carbon flowing through rivers.

Postdoc, Swansea University (2017-2019). Studied the legacy effects of fire on the land carbon cycle.

Postdoc, UEA School of Environmental Science (2019-2022). Joined as a postdoc to work on the Global Carbon Budget.

NERC Independent Research Fellow (2022-present). Won NERC funding to work on the impact of climate change on the global geography of wildfire.

Affiliations. I am a member of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the Climatic Research Unit at UEA, and the international Global Carbon Project.

Research Group or Lab Membership

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research

Climatic Research Unit

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land

Education/Academic qualification

Bachelor of Science, University of Exeter

15 Sept 201015 Jul 2013

Award Date: 15 Jul 2019

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Exeter

15 Sept 20141 Nov 2018

Award Date: 29 May 2019

External positions

Core Team, Global Carbon Project

1 Mar 2019 → …

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or