Contribution of high-latitude permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere to global wildfire carbon emissions

作     者：Xingru ZHU Xiyan XU Gensuo JIA 

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for East AsiaInstitute of Atmospheric PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100029China College of Earth and Planetary SciencesUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100049China 

出 版 物：《Science China Earth Sciences》 (中国科学（地球科学英文版）)

年 卷 期：2024年第67卷第10期

页      面：3239-3251页

核心收录：

学科分类：081803[工学-地质工程] 08[工学] 0818[工学-地质资源与地质工程] 

基　　金：supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2022YFF0801904) 

主　　题：Wildfire Permafrost Carbon emissions Climate change Belowground fuel consumption 

摘      要：Wildfires are major disturbances in permafrost ecosystems, with increasing frequency and intensity in recent years. In permafrost regions, wildfires not only burn surface and subsurface organic matter but also accelerate permafrost thawing,releasing significant amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. However, the contribution of high-latitude permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere to global wildfire carbon emissions remains poorly understood. This study integrates remote sensing data and ground observations to analyze the contributions of aboveground and belowground fuel combustion in high-latitude permafrost regions to global wildfire carbon emissions from 2002 to 2020, as well as the spatiotemporal variations in these contributions. Our findings indicate that permafrost regions contribute approximately11.96% of global wildfire carbon emissions, with aboveground emissions accounting for approximately 3.94% of global aboveground emissions and belowground emissions contributing approximately 63.57% of global belowground emissions. The contribution of high-latitude permafrost regions to global emissions peaked in July and August, whereas the continuous permafrost zones(areas with more than 90% permafrost coverage) showed the most significant increase in June and July. The contributions of both aboveground and belowground emissions from high-latitude permafrost regions to global wildfire emissions have been increasing, primarily due to the reduction in global wildfire emissions, in contrast with the rising emissions from wildfires in high-latitude permafrost regions. This study highlights the significant role of wildfires, particularly the combustion of belowground biomass in high-latitude permafrost regions, in global carbon emissions. The decomposition and combustion of organic carbon in permafrost regions due to wildfires release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, potentially amplifying the positive feedback