Zombie fires:
There is strong evidence that last summer’s unprecedented Arctic blazes appear to have smouldered through winter as “zombie fires” and reignited this month.
Intense blazes across the frozen north last year led to record carbon emissions that were on a par with those from Belgium, exacerbating the global warming that made the conditions for the fires possible in the first place.
Now as temperatures rise in the region and snow recedes, satellite analysis of last year’s burn sites and the fires erupting this month suggest many in Siberia may be zombie fires.
“We know they are real and quite rare. That’s why seeing so many potential spots in Siberia is interesting. The satellite images are astonishing, particularly the snowmelt immediately followed by the fires appearing,” says Thomas Smith at the London School of Economics. [“‘Zombie’ fires are burning the Arctic after smouldering under snow,” Adam Vaughan, NewScientist (23 May 2020, paywall)]
