Wildfires ‘speeding permafrost collapse in Arctic Alaska’

Frozen ground’s disintegration could lead to an outpouring of carbon stored in it, writes Sam Hancock

This file photo from 2019 shows melting ice beside severe erosion of the permafrost tundra at Bethel on the Yukon Delta in Alaska (AFP via Getty Images)

Wildfires are contributing to the already devastating impact that climate change is having on the decline of carbon-filled permafrost in Arctic Alaska, a new study has found.

The report – conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois (UoI) in the US – shows that wildfires or tundra fires have accelerated the decline of frozen environments in a phenomenon known as ‘thermokarst’: the abrupt collapse of ice-rich permafrost as a result of thawing.

Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0C for two or more years, with scientists adding that Arctic permafrost specifically is considered a “storehouse” of frozen plant and animal matter.