Inside the quest to combat Arctic fires and save the planet’s frozen carbon
Researchers are studying how wildfires in the Arctic accelerate permafrost thaw, which releases significant amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. The team is investigating mitigation strategies, including satellite monitoring and traditional land management practices.
Why it matters
Permafrost contains vast amounts of carbon; its rapid thawing due to fire-driven climate change represents a significant threat to global climate stability.
These scientists hope that fire-spotting satellites, AI tools and ancient land practices could preserve the world’s vulnerable permafrost—and the vast carbon it stores.
In the middle of an especially warm July in 2021, a wildfire ignited in a thick forest of black spruce and peeling paper birch trees on the northern campus of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
The blaze, possibly sparked by lightning, burned across the dry carpet of feather mosses and lichen before climbing into the crowns. By the time fire agencies responded, flames had reached 12 feet in length and sent up a 500-foot column of smoke.
A few days shy of the five-year anniversary of the Yankovich Road Fire, I followed three members of the Alaska Fire Science Consortium into the boreal forest, walking along cross-country ski trails lined by feathery field horsetail.
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