Climate Wire | Boreal forest fires in northern Eurasia and North America, including parts of Canada, Alaska and Siberia, released record-breaking levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2021, new study reveals became.
In a typical year, these northern blazes account for about 10% of global wildfire-related carbon emissions. However, by 2021, that share has surged to 23%.
Heat and drought are likely the culprits, researchers say. Both North America and Eurasia experienced severe heatwaves in her 2021 summer, with Eurasia also suffering from low precipitation and drought.
Although 2021 has broken wildfire emissions records, northern wildfires have been worsening for decades as the climate changes. Studies show that emissions from these northern fires have increased steadily since at least 2000.
Study co-author Steven Davis, an earth system scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said: statement.
New study published Thursday in the journal chemistryused satellite data to track wildfire emissions from 2000 to 2021.
Tracking fire-related carbon dioxide is important for climate scientists. These climate-warming emissions could accelerate the rate of global warming, further exacerbating the hot, dry conditions that cause wildfires.
However, researchers note that direct measurement of fire-related carbon emissions using satellites can be difficult. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for a long time, making it difficult to pinpoint where it came from.
But another type of wildfire emission, carbon monoxide, is a different story. Carbon monoxide has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime and is much easier to directly attribute to wildfires. Scientists can observe the amount of carbon monoxide released by fires and use those measurements to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide released along with it.
Researchers led by Bo Zheng of Tsinghua University in China used this special method to estimate carbon dioxide emissions from boreal forest fires. We found that in 2021, about 500 million tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere by northern forest fires.
Northern fires in general are a growing cause of concern for climate scientists. They often occur in peat carbon-rich terrain and tend to produce more carbon dioxide when burned than other ecosystems.
This means that we are likely to end up in a vicious cycle that affects the global climate. More fires release more carbon, which causes more warming, which causes more fires.
“These fires are after two decades of rapid warming and extreme drought in northern Canada and Siberia, and unfortunately even this new record may not last long.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2023. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
