Fire Behavior, Weather, and Burn Severity of the 2007 Anaktuvuk River Tundra Fire, North Slope, Alaska

In 2007, the Anaktuvuk River Fire (ARF) became the largest recorded tundra fire on the North Slope of Alaska. The ARF burned for nearly three months, consuming more than 100,000 ha. At its peak in early September, the ARF burned at a rate of 7000 ha d−1. The conditions potentially responsible for th...

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Veröffentlicht in:	Arctic, antarctic, and alpine research Jg. 41; H. 3; S. 309 - 316
Hauptverfasser:	Jones, Benjamin M., Kolden, Crystal A., Jandt, Randi, Abatzoglou, John T., Urban, Frank, Arp, Christopher D.
Format:	Journal Article
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	UCB 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450, U.S.A The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research 01.08.2009 Taylor & Francis Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
Schlagworte:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Biological and medical sciences Climate models Fire behavior Fires Forest and land fires Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Lightning Meteorology Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection Precipitation Seasons Synecology Tundras Vegetation Weather damages. Fires Wildfire seasons Alaska United States North America America PNW, Beaufort Sea PNW, USA, Alaska, North Slope USA, Alaska, North Slope, Kuparuk R PN, Arctic Fire ecology Fires Stream Vegetation fire Rivers Forecast model Tundra North Slope
ISSN:	1523-0430, 1938-4246
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Zusammenfassung:	In 2007, the Anaktuvuk River Fire (ARF) became the largest recorded tundra fire on the North Slope of Alaska. The ARF burned for nearly three months, consuming more than 100,000 ha. At its peak in early September, the ARF burned at a rate of 7000 ha d−1. The conditions potentially responsible for this large tundra fire include modeled record high summer temperature and record low summer precipitation, a late-season high-pressure system located over the Beaufort Sea, extremely dry soil conditions throughout the summer, and sustained southerly winds during the period of vegetation senescence. Burn severity mapping revealed that more than 80% of the ARF burned at moderate to extreme severity, while the nearby Kuparuk River Fire remained small and burned at predominantly (80%) low severity. While this study provides information that may aid in the prediction of future large tundra fires in northern Alaska, the fact that three other tundra fires that occurred in 2007 combined to burn less than 1000 ha suggests site specific complexities associated with tundra fires on the North Slope, which may hamper the development of tundra fire forecasting models.
Bibliographie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1523-0430 1938-4246
DOI:	10.1657/1938-4246-41.3.309