Huge Arctic Fire Hints at New Climate Cue

Dry conditions stemming from climate change could lead to more wildfires even in the cool Arctic; in turn, the fires could hasten the pace of global warming. A 2007 fire in Alaska put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra can absorb in one year, suggests ecology research released by Nature magazine and reported by the BBC News. “Fires in the tundra are uncommon because the ground is covered in snow and ice for large periods of the year,” reports Richard Black of BBC News. The Arctic has little vegetation, and the Anaktuvuk River fire burned deep into the peat-like soil, releasing more than 2 million tons of carbon. Researchers also anticipate that the record for melting sea ice in the Arctic could also be broken this year. Ecologists and climate researchers rapidly try to incorporate features of a fast-changing Earth into their models to predict the consequences of climate change. – YaleGlobal