Scientists warn of ‘zombie fires’ in the Arctic
- A ‘zombie fire’ is a fire that continues to burn underground and then reignites on the surface after a period of time
- Parts of Siberia and Alaska region likely to see resurgence after unusually warm weather this year
Dormant “zombie fires” scattered across the Arctic region – remnants of record blazes last year – may be coming to life after an unusually warm and dry Spring, scientists warned Wednesday.
“We have seen satellite observations of active fires that hint that ‘zombie’ fires might have reignited,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at the European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service.
The hotspots, which have yet to be confirmed by ground measurements, are particularly concentrated in areas that burned last summer.
The year 2019 was marked by fires unprecedented in scale and duration across large swathes of Siberia and Alaska.
In June – the hottest on record, going back 150 years – the blazes are estimated to have released 50 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, equivalent to Sweden’s annual emissions.
“We may see a cumulative effect of last year’s fire season in the Arctic which will feed into the upcoming season, and could lead to large-scale and long-term fires across the same region once again,” Parrington said.