Climate change could make overwinter ‘zombie’ fires more common Staff and agencies © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Lance King/Getty Images
In the boreal forests of the far northern hemisphere, where the climate is warming faster than almost anywhere else, some wildfires are surviving winter snows and picking up again in spring.
Now scientists from the Netherlands and Alaska have figured out how to calculate the scope of those “zombie fires” that smoulder year-round in the peaty soil.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that overwintering fires are still relatively rare in boreal forests: between 2002 and 2018 they were responsible for just 0.8% of the total burned area. But this varied dramatically depending on the warmth of the summers, the authors found, with the number rising to 38% of burn area one year.
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Zombie fires could become more widespread as the climate warms, report warns
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Zombie fires could become more widespread as the climate warms, report warns
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Blazes That Refuse to Die: âZombie Firesâ
With a changing climate, fires in far northern forests that smolder throughout winter and erupt again in spring could become more common, a new study suggests.
The Bogus Creek Fire in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a state where the vast majority of carbon emissions from fires come from burning soil.Credit.Matt Snyder/Alaska Division of Forestry, via Associated Press
Zombie forest fires are on the rise.
According to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, fires in far northern forests that smolder throughout the wet, cold winters and pop up again in the spring could become more common because of climate change. That presents challenges â but also opportunities â for fire management, and for minimizing the release of greenhouse gases, the researchers say.