Wildfires have been a natural part of the Arctic’s boreal forest and tundra ecosystems.
- However, their frequency and scale in the regions have increased in recent years.
Reasons for such Arctic wildfires
- Fast-paced Arctic warming: Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average rate.
- Increased Lightning: Warm, moist updrafts (of air) needed for thunderstorms and lightning are more common over ice-free land (caused by warming).
- Slowing Polar jet stream: Warming has slowed down the polar jet stream responsible for circulating air between the mid- and northern latitudes.
- The jet stream's stagnation may bring unseasonably prolonged warm weather.
Concerns
Such wildfires may reinforce Arctic Warming due to:
- Reduced albedo (fraction of light that a surface reflects) due to smoke from wildfires and melting of ice sheet.
- Burning boreal forests and tundra releases vast amounts of greenhouse gases from carbon-rich soils.
- June 2024 wildfire carbon emissions were the third highest in two decades (Copernicus data).
- Permafrost Thawing: Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen (i.e. 0°C or colder) for at least two years straight.
- Arctic permafrost holds around 1,700 billion metric tons of carbon.