Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545019 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth Yoseph (0000-0002-8183-9574, Bard College), Elizabeth Hoy (0000-0002-0104-5118, Goddard Space Flight Center), Clayton D Elder (0000-0001-9831-2106, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, corresponding author), S Ludwig (0000-0002-2873-479X, Columbia University), David R Thompson (0000-0001-8518-6307, Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Charles E Miller (0000-0002-9380-4838, Jet Propulsion Laboratory) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 104042-104042 |
| Publication date | 2023-08-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b |
| OpenAlex | W4386278603 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 59 |
Rapid warming in Arctic tundra may lead to drier soils in summer and greater lightning ignition rates, likely culminating in enhanced wildfire risk. Increased wildfire frequency and intensity leads to greater conversion of permafrost carbon to greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we quantify the effect of recent tundra fires on the creation of methane (CH 4 ) emission hotspots, a fingerprint of the permafrost carbon feedback. We utilized high-resolution (∼25 m 2 pixels) and broad coverage (1780 km 2 ) airborne imaging spectroscopy and maps of historical wildfire-burned areas to determine whether CH 4 hotspots were more likely in areas burned within the last 50 years in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA. Our observations provide a unique observational constraint on CH 4 dynamics, allowing us to map CH 4 hotspots in relation to individual burn events, burn scar perimeters, and proximity to water. We find that CH 4 hotspots are roughly 29% more likely on average in tundra that burned within the last 50 years compared to unburned areas and that this effect is nearly tripled along burn scar perimeters that are delineated by surface water features. Our results indicate that the changes following tundra fire favor the complex environmental conditions needed to generate CH 4 emission hotspots. We conclude that enhanced CH 4 emissions following tundra fire represent a positive feedback that will accelerate climate warming, tundra fire occurrence, and future permafrost carbon loss to the atmosphere
Arctic · Atmospheric sciences · Carbon cycle · Climatology · Delta · Ecosystem · Fire regime · Geography · Greenhouse gas · Hotspot (geology · Permafrost · Physical geography · Tundra · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics · Climate change and permafrost · Environmental Science · Fire effects on ecosystems · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography
The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979
A Project for Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity
Simultaneous Inference in General Parametric Models
Disturbances in North American boreal forest and Arctic tundra
Geomorphological patterns of remotely sensed methane hot spots in the Mackenzie Delta, Canada
Decadal-scale hotspot methane ebullition within lakes following abrupt permafrost thaw
Multi-decadal patterns of vegetation succession after tundra fire on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Inference of the impact of wildfire on permafrost and active layer thickness in a discontinuous permafrost region using the remotely sensed active layer thickness (ReSalt) algorithm
An overview of ABoVE airborne campaign data acquisitions and science opportunities
Impacts of wildfire and landscape factors on organic soil properties in Arctic tussock tundra
Temperature-controlled tundra fire severity and frequency during the last millennium in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |