This weekend, smoke smothered the high-rises of downtown Vancouver. Sunsets as far south as Ohio took on brilliant hues of red and orange. And humanity reached another potential milestone in climate change–all thanks to hundreds of wildfires burning in Alaska and Canada, reports wired.com.
The problem isn’t just scorched landscape–though that’s bad enough, to the tune of 3 million acres and 600 fires in Alaska and over4,000 wildfiresin Canada. This year has been exceptionally hot and dry–just ask a Californian–but even so this year’s fires haven’t yet surpassed the toll of the even fierier 2004. As Sam Harrel, spokesperson for the Alaska Fire Service, puts it in understated terms, “We are on a track for a lot of acres this year.” But the real problem is that the fires could accelerate the melting of permafrost, a layer of ground that’s never supposed to get above freezing. And permafrost is one of Earth’s great storehouses of carbon. Release it, and you speed up climate change.
What ties all that together is “duff,” the thick layer of moss, twigs, needles, and other living or once-living material that blankets the forest floor. Duff can be up to a foot thick, and it provides the insulation that keeps permafrost cold through even the sunny days of summer. But when fire comes along, duff becomes fuel. Burning duff releases carbon too, of course, but losing it is like ripping the insulation out of a refrigerator.
Read more of the story herehttp://wrd.cm/1G6QRae
