In the carbon-rich boreal forests that extend across the globe just below the Arctic Circle, a vicious climate-wildfire cycle is playing out, one that poses both an accelerating climate threat and an unrealized opportunity to stanch a large and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.
The burned area in Alaska’s and Canada’s spruce-dominated forests has doubled since the 1960s. Temperatures in these high-latitude regions are rising nearly four times faster than the global average, a trend that is lengthening growing seasons, reducing snowpack and—in hot, dry springs and early summers like Alaska experienced this year—parching trees and soils. Lightning strikes—the main source of wildfire ignitions in these forests—are also becoming more frequent as the climate warms.
How could fire management policies and budgets be designed to keep boreal wildfires and their emissions at historical levels? Attempting to extinguish large remote wildfires under hot, dry and windy conditions would be a heroic, costly and foolish enterprise. But with dedicated resources, it may be possible to put these fires out before they get big, by targeting remote small fires from the air once they are first detected by aircraft or satellites.
Energy Energy Latest News, Energy Energy Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: commondreams - 🏆 530. / 51 Read more »
Source: ABC - 🏆 471. / 51 Read more »
Source: ExpressNews - 🏆 519. / 51 Read more »