Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives
Wildfires can be divided into two types, flaming or smouldering, depending on the dominant combustion processes. Both types are present in most wildfires, and despite being fundamentally different in chemical and physical terms, one transitions to the other. Traditionally, science has focused on fla...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8660648 2023-05-15T14:54:01+02:00 Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives Rein, Guillermo Huang, Xinyan 2021-12 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8660648/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 en eng Elsevier B.V http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8660648/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 © 2021 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Curr Opin Environ Sci Health Article Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 2021-12-26T01:28:26Z Wildfires can be divided into two types, flaming or smouldering, depending on the dominant combustion processes. Both types are present in most wildfires, and despite being fundamentally different in chemical and physical terms, one transitions to the other. Traditionally, science has focused on flames, while smouldering is often misinterpreted. But smouldering wildfires are emerging as a global concern because they cause extensive air pollution, emit very large amounts of carbon, are difficult to detect and suppress, and could accelerate climate change. Central to the topic are smouldering peat fires that lead to the largest fires on Earth. Smouldering also dominates the residual burning after flames have died out and firebrand ignition. Finally, smouldering is an important part of Arctic wildfires, which are increasing in frequency. Here, we present a scientific overview of smouldering wildfires, the associated environmental and health issues, including climate change, and the challenges in prevention and mitigation. Text Arctic Climate change PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health 24 100296 |
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Article Rein, Guillermo Huang, Xinyan Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
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Article |
description |
Wildfires can be divided into two types, flaming or smouldering, depending on the dominant combustion processes. Both types are present in most wildfires, and despite being fundamentally different in chemical and physical terms, one transitions to the other. Traditionally, science has focused on flames, while smouldering is often misinterpreted. But smouldering wildfires are emerging as a global concern because they cause extensive air pollution, emit very large amounts of carbon, are difficult to detect and suppress, and could accelerate climate change. Central to the topic are smouldering peat fires that lead to the largest fires on Earth. Smouldering also dominates the residual burning after flames have died out and firebrand ignition. Finally, smouldering is an important part of Arctic wildfires, which are increasing in frequency. Here, we present a scientific overview of smouldering wildfires, the associated environmental and health issues, including climate change, and the challenges in prevention and mitigation. |
format |
Text |
author |
Rein, Guillermo Huang, Xinyan |
author_facet |
Rein, Guillermo Huang, Xinyan |
author_sort |
Rein, Guillermo |
title |
Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
title_short |
Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
title_full |
Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
title_fullStr |
Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
title_full_unstemmed |
Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives |
title_sort |
smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: challenges and perspectives |
publisher |
Elsevier B.V |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8660648/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Curr Opin Environ Sci Health |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8660648/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 |
op_rights |
© 2021 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296 |
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Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health |
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24 |
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100296 |
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