Carbon loss from an unprecedented Arctic tundra wildfire

Michelle C. Mack (), M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, Randi R. Jandt, Edward A. G. Schuur, Gaius R. Shaver and David L. Verbyla
Additional contact information
Michelle C. Mack: University of Florida, PO Box 118525
M. Syndonia Bret-Harte: Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757000
Teresa N. Hollingsworth: Boreal Ecology Cooperative Research Unit, PNW Research Station USDA Forest Service, PO Box 756780, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Randi R. Jandt: Alaska Fire Service, Bureau of Land Management, PO Box 35005
Edward A. G. Schuur: University of Florida, PO Box 118525
Gaius R. Shaver: The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory
David L. Verbyla: University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757200

Nature, 2011, vol. 475, issue 7357, 489-492

Abstract: Large carbon release from Alaskan tundra fire In 2007, an area of more than 1,000 square kilometres of Alaskan tundra was destroyed by a single fire, more than doubling the cumulative area burnt in this region since 1950. Michelle Mack and colleagues now show that, in the process, 2.1 teragrams of carbon was released and about one-third of soil organic matter burned away, thereby potentially exposing permafrost soils to thaw. The amount of carbon released from the entire burn was comparable to the annual net carbon sink of the entire Arctic tundra biome during the past 25 years of the twentieth century. As tundra fires are expected to increase as the climate warms, combustion of 'old growth' tundra soil could constitute a positive climate feedback, by transferring surface soil carbon to the atmosphere and accelerating the thaw and decomposition of deeper permafrost carbon.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10283

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