Spike in Alaska Wildfires Is Worsening Global Warming

The devastating rise in Alaska’s wildfires is making global warming even worse than scientists expected, U.S. government researchers said.

The sharp spike in Alaska’s wildfires, where more than 5 million acres burned last year, are destroying a main buffer against climate change:  the carbon-rich boreal forests, tundra and permafrost that have served as an enormous carbon sink.

Northern wildfires must now be recognized as a significant driver of climate change – and not just a side-effect, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

“This is one of the surprises that we haven’t talked about much,” said Virginia Burkett, chief climate scientist at the USGS.  “It has tremendous implications for the carbon that is locked up in Alaska soils and vegetation.”

A record wildfire year – such as 2015 which was the worst in Alaska for a decade – had a measurable effect on the release of carbon dioxide and methane, which are the main drivers of climate change.

“Our scientists found that the balance of carbon storage versus release in Alaska was strongly linked with wildfires,” Burkett said.  “In years where there was high wildfire activity the net carbon balance declined dramatically, and then it would rebuild in the absence of fire.”

Alaska is a far bigger storehouse for carbon than the lower 48 states, according to the USGS. 

The state’s boreal forests, peat-rich tundra, and permafrost hold about 53 percent of U.S. carbon.  Alaska accounts for about 18 percent of US land mass.

Alaska currently absorbs about 3.7m tonnes of carbon a year, the USGS assessment found.  But that vast storehouse of carbon has been breached by warming temperatures, thawing permafrost – and wildfire.

The USGS warned last year that Alaska could lose about a quarter of its permafrost by 2100, accelerating climate change.

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