Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives

Rein, Guillermo; Huang, Xinyan

doi:10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296

Cited by 50 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Presence of charred and uncharred plant remains in multiple levels of the cores suggests (local) wildfires (for more information on (palaeo)wildfires in peatlands see e.g. Zaccone et al, 2014;Nelson et al, 2021;Rein and Huang, 2021). Dry periods allow further breakdown of material, which could explain the rather poor preservation of uncharred (waterlogged) macrofossils.…”

Section: Palaeoenvironmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating basal peat: The geochronology of peat initiation revisited

Quik

Palstra

Beek

et al. 2022

Quaternary Geochronology

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Section: Palaeoenvironmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating basal peat: The geochronology of peat initiation revisited

Quik

Palstra

Beek

et al. 2022

Quaternary Geochronology

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“…However, this part of the organic carbon is not stable due to continued changes of the habitat conditions and smoldering after the fire, which likely could destroy these aggregates. Research has shown that underground fires, especially smoldering of underground biomass, can lead to further losses and destabilization of SOC [6,7].…”

Section: Variability Of Water Stable Soil Aggregates (Wsa) and Associated Soc (Wsa-soc) After Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Boreal forest can also be a significant contributor to the atmospheric CO 2 from above and underground biomass burning [6]. A recent review [7] points to the importance of underground biomass burning (smoldering) as a significant contributor to atmospheric CO 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes of Soil Organic Carbon after Wildfire in a Boreal Forest, Northeast CHINA

et al. 2021

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Boreal forests with high carbon sequestration capacity play a crucial role in mitigating global climate change. Addressing dynamic changes of soil organic carbon (SOC) after wildfire helps in understanding carbon cycling. The objective of this study is to investigate changes in soil organic carbon after wildfires in a boreal forest. The post-fire soil chronosequence after 3 months, 17 years, and 25 years within a boreal forest was used to examine dynamic and stable SOC after wildfire at the decadal scale. Soils in genetic horizons were sampled and analyzed for dynamic and stable SOC, including water stable aggregates (WSA), WSA associated organic carbon (WSA-SOC), soil heavy fractions (HF) associated organic carbon (HF-SOC), and soil total organic carbon (TOC). The TOC and WSA-SOC content of the A horizon was the greatest in the control site. There was no significant difference for TOC between burned and unburned deep BC horizons. The TOC for the A and B horizons at the 17-year-old site was significantly lower compared to the other sites. TOC did not recover to the pre-fire levels (control site) in any of the burned areas. The lowest WSA was found in the A and B horizons of the 3-month-old site. The WSA at the 25-year-old site was higher compared to the 17-year-old site. WSA increased with time following fire, but the recovery rate differed among different sites. The lowest concentration of WSA-SOC for the A horizon occurred at the 17-year-old site, and no significant difference was observed between B and BC horizons. The HF content for the A horizon was the greatest at the 3-month-old site. There was no significant difference in HF-SOC between B and BC horizons in all sites. TOC and stable SOC (HF and WSA) increased over time in species-dominance relay stand areas, while self-replacement stands areas showed the opposite. The results indicate that overall, the ability of soil to sequester carbon decreased after wildfire disturbances. Stable SOC accumulated more in areas where species-dominance relay succession occurred compared to the self-replacement stands. These disturbances were more pronounced for surface soil horizons. This study provides a quantitative assessment of SOC changes after wildfires that are useful for forest management and modeling forecasts of SOC stocks, especially in boreal forests.

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“…However, peat can be flammable when dry or thawed and wildfires can be ignited by natural events such as lightning (Mickler et al 2017) and self-heating (Restuccia et al 2017), or anthropogenic activities such as land clearing, accidental burning, and arson (Page et al 2002(Page et al , 2011. Their spread is governed by smouldering combustion, and fires can last for weeks or months despite rainfall or firefighting (Page et al 2002;Huijnen et al 2016;Rein and Huang 2021) (see Fig. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent 2015 haze episode in Southeast Asia released 227 ± 67 Tg of Carbon, with an average rate of daily CO 2 emission exceeding the fossil fuel emission rate of the European Union (Huijnen et al 2016). Annually, drained peatlands release ~5% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (IUCN 2017), which, considering the very long period of 100-1000 years needed for the carbon in peatland to be stored, contribute to the acceleration of climate change (Kelly et al 2013;Rein 2013;Gandois et al 2019;Walker et al 2020;Rein and Huang 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GAMBUT field experiment of peatland wildfires in Sumatra: from ignition to spread and suppression

Santoso

Christensen

Amin

et al. 2022

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Peat wildfires can burn over large areas of peatland, releasing ancient carbon and toxic gases into the atmosphere over prolonged periods. These emissions cause haze episodes of pollution and accelerate climate change. Peat wildfires are characterised by smouldering -the flameless, most persistent type of combustion. Mitigation strategies are needed in arctic, boreal, and tropical areas but are hindered by incomplete scientific understanding of smouldering. Here, we present GAMBUT, the largest and longest to-date field experiment of peat wildfires, conducted in a degraded peatland of Sumatra. Temperature, emission and spread of peat fire were continuously measured over 4-10 days and nights, and three major rainfalls. Measurements of temperature in the soil provide field experimental evidence of lethal fire severity to the biological system of the peat up to 30 cm depth. We report that the temperature of the deep smouldering is ~13% hotter than shallow layer during daytime. During night-time, both deep and shallow smouldering had the same level of temperature. The experiment was terminated by suppression with water. Comparison of rainfall with suppression confirms the existence of a critical water column height below which extinction is not possible. GAMBUT provides a unique understanding of peat wildfires at field conditions that can contribute to mitigation strategies.

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Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives

Cited by 50 publications

References 69 publications

Dating basal peat: The geochronology of peat initiation revisited

Dating basal peat: The geochronology of peat initiation revisited

Changes of Soil Organic Carbon after Wildfire in a Boreal Forest, Northeast CHINA

GAMBUT field experiment of peatland wildfires in Sumatra: from ignition to spread and suppression

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