Dear MEL Topic Readers,
They could become more common as the planet warms
Since the beginning of the millennia, the Arctic has become warmer twice faster than the rest of the globe. For example, Alaska is now about two degrees warmer than in the early 20th century. Because of the warming temperatures and climate change, there have been more wildfires in the Arctic regions during non-winter seasons. Though most of them usually extinguish in winter, there are some undetected wildfires under the surface that can survive the severe winter and reemerge in spring and cause more wildfires. The problem is that these regions contain huge stocks of not only trees and plants but also flammable peat. Also known as turf, peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. Since peat has a high carbon content and can burn under low moisture conditions, it burns sluggishly without flame for a long time releasing the contained CO2 into the atmosphere. Such peat burnings tend to last under the surface and never extinguish, they are called zombie fires. Now you see that the warming of arctic regions not only melts ice sheets and glaciers but also burns trees, plants, and peatland, increasing the release of more greenhouse gasses.
Enjoy reading the article and learn about what zombie fires are and do in the arctic regions.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/19/weather/zombie-fires-arctic-forests-climate-change-scn/index.html
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