IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v475y2011i7357d10.1038_nature10283.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carbon loss from an unprecedented Arctic tundra wildfire

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle C. Mack & M. Syndonia Bret-Harte & Teresa N. Hollingsworth & Randi R. Jandt & Edward A. G. Schuur & Gaius R. Shaver & David L. Verbyla, 2011. "Carbon loss from an unprecedented Arctic tundra wildfire," Nature, Nature, vol. 475(7357), pages 489-492, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:475:y:2011:i:7357:d:10.1038_nature10283
    DOI: 10.1038/nature10283
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10283
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature10283?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yanlan Liu & William J. Riley & Trevor F. Keenan & Zelalem A. Mekonnen & Jennifer A. Holm & Qing Zhu & Margaret S. Torn, 2022. "Dispersal and fire limit Arctic shrub expansion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yuquan Qu & Diego G. Miralles & Sander Veraverbeke & Harry Vereecken & Carsten Montzka, 2023. "Wildfire precursors show complementary predictability in different timescales," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Bing Wang & Su-Yan Pan & Ruo-Yu Ke & Ke Wang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2014. "An overview of climate change vulnerability: a bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science database," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 74(3), pages 1649-1666, December.
    4. Zhicong Yin & Yijia Zhang & Shengping He & Huijun Wang, 2024. "Warm Arctic-Cold Eurasia pattern helps predict spring wildfire burned area in West Siberia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. E. Schuur & B. Abbott & W. Bowden & V. Brovkin & P. Camill & J. Canadell & J. Chanton & F. Chapin & T. Christensen & P. Ciais & B. Crosby & C. Czimczik & G. Grosse & J. Harden & D. Hayes & G. Hugelius, 2013. "Expert assessment of vulnerability of permafrost carbon to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 359-374, July.
    6. David K Swanson, 2015. "Environmental Limits of Tall Shrubs in Alaska’s Arctic National Parks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-34, September.
    7. Binhe Luo & Dehai Luo & Aiguo Dai & Cunde Xiao & Ian Simmonds & Edward Hanna & James Overland & Jiaqi Shi & Xiaodan Chen & Yao Yao & Wansuo Duan & Yimin Liu & Qiang Zhang & Xiyan Xu & Yina Diao & Zhin, 2024. "Rapid summer Russian Arctic sea-ice loss enhances the risk of recent Eastern Siberian wildfires," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Vera Kuklina & Oleg Sizov & Elena Rasputina & Irina Bilichenko & Natalia Krasnoshtanova & Viktor Bogdanov & Andrey N. Petrov, 2022. "Fires on Ice: Emerging Permafrost Peatlands Fire Regimes in Russia’s Subarctic Taiga," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:475:y:2011:i:7357:d:10.1038_nature10283. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.