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Winter usually kills most forest fires. But in the boreal woods that encircle the far North, some fires, like zombies, just don’t die.
The first broad scientific look at overwintering “zombie fires” reveals these rare occurrences can flare up the year after warmer-than-normal summers and account for up to 38 percent of the total burn area in some regions, researchers report online May 19 in
Nature. As climate change accelerates in boreal forests, the frequency of zombie fires could rise and exacerbate warming by releasing more greenhouse gases from the region’s soils, which may house twice as much carbon as Earth’s atmosphere (
Nature, an international research team reveals how it used a complex computer algorithm to spot the zombie fires that have risen from their peat-filled grave, so to speak, in satellite imagery.
What Are Zombie Fires?
Zombie fires, also known as overwintering or holdover fires, are different than the flaming fires that have devastated California and Australia in recent years.
Packed deep within carbon-rich soils and insulated by feet of snow, zombie fires can smolder for months, long after firefighters have extinguished the surface flames. As the snow melts and the soil begins to dry out, flames can reignite on the surface and spark larger blazes. This poses a problem not only for people and property, but for the climate, too.
Zombie Fires Are a Strange, Rare Phenomenon That Is Threatening the Environment Jennifer Leman
Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that can identify zombie fires that smolder in Arctic, carbon-rich peat soils.
Zombies fires (also known as overwintering or holdover fires) that burn through peat-laden soil can release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
Understanding the conditions that lead to these fires can help fire managers target resources at the beginning of the fire season.
The searing summer heat that fuels piping-hot wildfires in northern boreal forests may be the mystery cause of a strange, rare phenomenon: zombie fires. These undead blazes smolder deep underground in carbon-rich peat soils, and then reignite months later.