Unrecorded Tundra Fires of the Arctic Slope, Alaska USA

Few fires are known to have burned the tundra of the Arctic Slope north of the Brooks Range in Alaska, USA. A total of 90 fires between 1969 and 2022 are known. Because fire has been rare, old burns can be detected by the traces of thermokarst and distinct vegetation they leave in otherwise uniform...

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Vydané v:	Fire (Basel, Switzerland) Ročník 6; číslo 3; s. 101
Hlavní autori:	Miller, Eric A., Jones, Benjamin M., Baughman, Carson A., Jandt, Randi R., Jenkins, Jennifer L., Yokel, David A.
Médium:	Journal Article
Jazyk:	English
Vydavateľské údaje:	Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2023
Predmet:	Aerial photography aircraft Aircraft pilots Alaska Archives & records Arctic region Burns Coastal plains ecoregions Environmental aspects Eriophorum vaginatum fire frequency fire regime Fires Foothills Forest & brush fires Landsat Landsat satellites Pilots Polar environments Prehistoric era Remote sensing Seasons Surveillance Taiga & tundra thermokarst Tundra tussock Vegetation wildfire Wildfires United States Alaska Brooks Range United States > US Arctic region
ISSN:	2571-6255, 2571-6255
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Shrnutí:	Few fires are known to have burned the tundra of the Arctic Slope north of the Brooks Range in Alaska, USA. A total of 90 fires between 1969 and 2022 are known. Because fire has been rare, old burns can be detected by the traces of thermokarst and distinct vegetation they leave in otherwise uniform tundra, which are visible in aerial photograph archives. Several prehistoric tundra burns have been found in this way. Detection of tundra fires in this sparsely populated and remote area has been historically inconsistent and opportunistic, relying on reports by aircraft pilots. Fire reports have been logged into an administrative database which, out of necessity, has been used to scientifically evaluate changes in the fire regime. To improve the consistency of the record, we completed a systematic search of Landsat Collection 2 for the Brooks Range Foothills ecoregion over the period 1972–2022. We found 57 unrecorded tundra burns, about 41% of the total, which now numbers 138. Only 15% and 33% of all fires appear in MODIS and VIIRS satellite-borne thermal anomaly products, respectively. The fire frequency in the first 37 years of the record is 0.89 y−1 for natural ignitions that spread ≥10 ha. Frequency in the last 13 years is 2.5 y−1, indicating a nearly three-fold increase in fire frequency.
Bibliografia:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23
ISSN:	2571-6255 2571-6255
DOI:	10.3390/fire6030101