Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics of Fire Scars Further Prove the Correlation between Permafrost Swamp Wildfires and Methane Geological Emissions

Wei Shan (), Lisha Qiu, Ying Guo, Chengcheng Zhang, Zhichao Xu and Shuai Liu
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Wei Shan: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Lisha Qiu: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Ying Guo: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Chengcheng Zhang: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Zhichao Xu: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Shuai Liu: Institute of Cold Regions Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-20

Abstract: Affected by global warming, methane gas released by permafrost degradation may increase the frequency of wildfires, and there are few studies on wildfires in permafrost regions and their correlation with climate and regional methane emissions. The northwestern section of the Xiaoxing’an Mountains in China was selected as the study area, and the spatial relationship between permafrost and spring wildfires was studied based on Landsat TM and Sentinel-2 data. Combined with monitoring data of air temperature, humidity, and methane concentration, the impact of methane emissions on spring wildfires was analyzed. The study shows that the spatial distribution of fire scars in spring is highly consistent with permafrost, and the change trend of fire scars is in line with the law of permafrost degradation. Wildfires occur intensively during the snow melting period in spring, and the temporal variation pattern is basically consistent with the methane concentration. The number of fire points was positively correlated with air temperature and methane concentration in March and April, and spring wildfires in permafrost regions are the result of a combination of rising seasonal temperatures, surface snow melting, and concentrated methane emissions. Larger areas of discontinuous permafrost are more prone to recurring wildfires.

Keywords: permafrost degradation; wildfire; methane emissions; climate change; correlation analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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