Fires on Ice: Emerging Permafrost Peatlands Fire Regimes in Russia’s Subarctic Taiga

Vera Kuklina, Oleg Sizov, Elena Rasputina, Irina Bilichenko, Natalia Krasnoshtanova, Viktor Bogdanov and Andrey N. Petrov
Additional contact information
Vera Kuklina: Department of Geography, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Oleg Sizov: Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333 Moscow, Russia
Elena Rasputina: V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Irina Bilichenko: V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Natalia Krasnoshtanova: V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Viktor Bogdanov: V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Andrey N. Petrov: ARCTIC Center, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Wildfires in permafrost areas, including smoldering fires (e.g., “zombie fires”), have increasingly become a concern in the Arctic and subarctic. Their detection is difficult and requires ground truthing. Local and Indigenous knowledge are becoming useful sources of information that could guide future research and wildfire management. This paper focuses on permafrost peatland fires in the Siberian subarctic taiga linked to local communities and their infrastructure. It presents the results of field studies in Evenki and old-settler communities of Tokma and Khanda in the Irkutsk region of Russia in conjunction with concurrent remote sensing data analysis. The study areas located in the discontinuous permafrost zone allow examination of the dynamics of wildfires in permafrost peatlands and adjacent forested areas. Interviews revealed an unusual prevalence and witness-observed characteristics of smoldering peatland fires over permafrost, such as longer than expected fire risk periods, impacts on community infrastructure, changes in migration of wild animals, and an increasing number of smoldering wildfires including overwintering “zombie fires” in the last five years. The analysis of concurrent satellite remote sensing data confirmed observations from communities, but demonstrated a limited capacity of satellite imagery to accurately capture changing wildfire activity in permafrost peatlands, which may have significant implications for global climate.

Keywords: smoldering fires; zombie fires; boreal forest; permafrost; Evenki; subarctic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (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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