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Zombie Fire Season Is Here in the Arctic
Every year, peatlands in the Arctic suddenly ignite. Smoldering subterranean fires from the previous summer were thought to be to blame, but now modeling suggests a worrying new cause.
So-called zombie fires in the peatlands of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia disappear from the Earth’s surface and smolder underground during the winter before coming back to life the following spring. Our research suggests that rapid atmospheric warming aboveground can cause peat soils to suddenly heat up to smoldering temperatures underground, all without any spark or other ignition. This is concerning, as it could kick off a vicious cycle: The gigatons of carbon released from ancient peat soils into the atmosphere are likely to make the climatic changes even worse, which means more fires, so more extreme weather, and so on.
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