Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA
Rapid warming in Arctic tundra may lead to drier soils in summer and greater lightning ignition rates, likely culminating in enhanced wildfire risk. Increased wildfire frequency and intensity leads to greater conversion of permafrost carbon to greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we quantify the effect o...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b https://doaj.org/article/4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c 2023-11-12T04:12:39+01:00 Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA Elizabeth Yoseph Elizabeth Hoy Clayton D Elder Sarah M Ludwig David R Thompson Charles E Miller 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b https://doaj.org/article/4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 10, p 104042 (2023) tundra hotspots Arctic ABoVE wildfire YK Delta Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b 2023-10-15T00:38:42Z Rapid warming in Arctic tundra may lead to drier soils in summer and greater lightning ignition rates, likely culminating in enhanced wildfire risk. Increased wildfire frequency and intensity leads to greater conversion of permafrost carbon to greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we quantify the effect of recent tundra fires on the creation of methane (CH _4 ) emission hotspots, a fingerprint of the permafrost carbon feedback. We utilized high-resolution (∼25 m ^2 pixels) and broad coverage (1780 km ^2 ) airborne imaging spectroscopy and maps of historical wildfire-burned areas to determine whether CH _4 hotspots were more likely in areas burned within the last 50 years in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA. Our observations provide a unique observational constraint on CH _4 dynamics, allowing us to map CH _4 hotspots in relation to individual burn events, burn scar perimeters, and proximity to water. We find that CH _4 hotspots are roughly 29% more likely on average in tundra that burned within the last 50 years compared to unburned areas and that this effect is nearly tripled along burn scar perimeters that are delineated by surface water features. Our results indicate that the changes following tundra fire favor the complex environmental conditions needed to generate CH _4 emission hotspots. We conclude that enhanced CH _4 emissions following tundra fire represent a positive feedback that will accelerate climate warming, tundra fire occurrence, and future permafrost carbon loss to the atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Kuskokwim permafrost Tundra Alaska Yukon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Yukon Environmental Research Letters 18 10 104042 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
tundra hotspots Arctic ABoVE wildfire YK Delta Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
tundra hotspots Arctic ABoVE wildfire YK Delta Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Elizabeth Yoseph Elizabeth Hoy Clayton D Elder Sarah M Ludwig David R Thompson Charles E Miller Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
topic_facet |
tundra hotspots Arctic ABoVE wildfire YK Delta Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Rapid warming in Arctic tundra may lead to drier soils in summer and greater lightning ignition rates, likely culminating in enhanced wildfire risk. Increased wildfire frequency and intensity leads to greater conversion of permafrost carbon to greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we quantify the effect of recent tundra fires on the creation of methane (CH _4 ) emission hotspots, a fingerprint of the permafrost carbon feedback. We utilized high-resolution (∼25 m ^2 pixels) and broad coverage (1780 km ^2 ) airborne imaging spectroscopy and maps of historical wildfire-burned areas to determine whether CH _4 hotspots were more likely in areas burned within the last 50 years in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA. Our observations provide a unique observational constraint on CH _4 dynamics, allowing us to map CH _4 hotspots in relation to individual burn events, burn scar perimeters, and proximity to water. We find that CH _4 hotspots are roughly 29% more likely on average in tundra that burned within the last 50 years compared to unburned areas and that this effect is nearly tripled along burn scar perimeters that are delineated by surface water features. Our results indicate that the changes following tundra fire favor the complex environmental conditions needed to generate CH _4 emission hotspots. We conclude that enhanced CH _4 emissions following tundra fire represent a positive feedback that will accelerate climate warming, tundra fire occurrence, and future permafrost carbon loss to the atmosphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elizabeth Yoseph Elizabeth Hoy Clayton D Elder Sarah M Ludwig David R Thompson Charles E Miller |
author_facet |
Elizabeth Yoseph Elizabeth Hoy Clayton D Elder Sarah M Ludwig David R Thompson Charles E Miller |
author_sort |
Elizabeth Yoseph |
title |
Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
title_short |
Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
title_full |
Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
title_fullStr |
Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA |
title_sort |
tundra fire increases the likelihood of methane hotspot formation in the yukon–kuskokwim delta, alaska, usa |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b https://doaj.org/article/4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c |
geographic |
Arctic Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Kuskokwim permafrost Tundra Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Kuskokwim permafrost Tundra Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 10, p 104042 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/4c26fc468d194323893fa91330e21e9c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf50b |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
104042 |
_version_ |
1782331066134036480 |