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Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
@queenofpeat
Jun 16, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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Fire Facts from a Boreal 🔥 Ecologist to help you understand what is really going on in Canada.

Fire Fact 1: The term “forest fire” is misleading in boreal regions. Also burning are peatlands and permafrost ecosystems, which store LOTS of ancient carbon. 1/
Fire Fact 2: We tend to picture crown fires, with flames leaping up into tall trees. However, the majority of what burns and fuels boreal fires is ON THE GROUND. More than 80% of what burns and emits greenhouse gas is moss, peat, and litter. 2/ Photograph of red Sphagnum ...
Fire Fact 3: 🔥 connects the world in complex ways. Smoke is transported globally and affects lung health for millions. Smoke and soot travel to the Arctic, speeding up ice melt. Arctic melt created the conditions for extreme burning in 🇨🇦 and widespread smoke plumes. Wow. 3/
Fire Fact 4: Wildfire is needed for renewal but severe fire is a stress on ecosystems and society. And yet, when nations and communities are in need, fire brings us together and brings out the good in humanity. Please watch with sound up!! 4/
Fire Fact 5: There are three main types of 🔥 ignitions in the boreal region.

1) Lightning
2) People
3) Zombie (overwintering) fires.

Guess what? They are ALL on the rise. Check out the video below about our hunt to find the zombie fires in NW Canada. 5/
Fire Fact 6: There is a lot of permafrost (frozen ground) in Canada. It is thawing because of climate change. Wildfire is like adding salt to the wound, and will cause more rapid thaw and ground instability like sink holes and landslides. 6/
Fire Fact 7: Fire & permafrost are locked in an intimate dance of feedbacks. Permafrost promotes ground fuel buildup but limits depth of ground fuel burning. Fire opens up the canopy, changing soil temps & snow depth. It’s difficult for me to think about one w/out the other. 7/ Photograph of a permafrost ...
Final Fire Fact is more of a story. Fire and black spruce also share an intimate dance together. Fire began to shape forest succession in 🇨🇦 and Alaska 1000s of yrs ago, when climate was cool and wet. 8/
Fire spread because of black spruce. One species affecting a massive disturbance regime- amazing! This speaks to a bigger issue. If you come across anyone saying that human ignited fires are not being influenced by climate change, they do not understand fuel Fuel FUEL. Merci. 9/9 Image of mounds of white li...
Thanks to those who let me know I made a mistake including this retweet in my thread. I should have emphasized broader feedbacks between climate, weather, and fire conditions, which are complex and fascinating.

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More from @queenofpeat

Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Sep 23, 2023
There is a ton of misinformation in my replies so here is a primer on permafrost carbon. Permafrost stores a HUGE amount of carbon because ancient life took up CO2, built biomass, then died. That organic matter (~50% C) slowly accrued in Earth's best freezer for 1000s of yrs. 1/ Photograph of a man wearing a baseball hat and a blue t shirt with overalls holding up a permafrost core while kneeling on the ground in a forest.
When frozen organic matter in permafrost warms, microbial activity speeds up. Microbes use the organic matter in their respiratory processes, which can release a variety of GHGs as byproducts, mostly CO2 but also methane, which make their way to the atmosphere. 2/ Image of a permafrost peat core with brown markings denoting ancient vegetation patterns.
Good: Not all permafrost carbon is vulnerable to this microbial processing, & hopefully not all permafrost will thaw.
Bad: A lot of permafrost is thawing and will thaw.
Ugly: Permafrost thaw will release enough CO2 and CH4 that it will join the world stage of major emitters. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Dec 21, 2022
False narratives about the #Arctic & #permafrost are being driven by the media. Here are some facts from science. 1) permafrost underlies 1/4 of N hemisphere land and 1/2 of Canada. Frozen ground is a backbone for ecosystems and infrastructure. 1/ fediscience.org/@queenofpeat/1…
Fact 2: It’s false to say thaw is unprecedented as it has happened in the past. However, rates of thaw are getting faster w/ warming, and because of climate change some permafrost will never return. Here is a video of me realizing ancient permafrost in Alaska is gone forever. 2/
Fact 3: Thawing permafrost is not why atmospheric methane (CH4) has increased so quickly in recent years. For now, permafrost thaw is a CO2 story, not a methane or nitrous oxide story. Hey climate reporters - Let’s keep our eye on the true story which deserves attention. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Jan 5, 2022
I am seeing and receiving pushback for being a climate scientist speaking out about the #MarshallFire. I understand this perspective. 1) It's difficult to attribute the #ClimateCrisis to any single event, and 2) this event was extremely complex. But hear me out. 1/
1) The #MarshallFire was either a reminder or a wakeup call that whether you live up the canyon (like I do) or on the plains, 🔥 is an ongoing threat.
2) Climate-fire relationships are complex, but due to the #ClimateCrisis, we need to learn to live with 🔥 more than ever. 2/
Hurricane force winds & human development were important factors in the #MarshallFire. But fuel configuration and moisture, and invasive species also important. Fuels include natural & human-derived.

One thing is clear to me. We all need to unite under the same umbrella. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Dec 31, 2021
~30,000 people fled the #MarshallFire, one of the most terrifying experiences we can face. Today I am reflecting on the added anxiety and consequences of fleeing a #climatemergency disaster during the COVID pandemic. Here I'll share a personal story w/ a tiny bit of insight. 1/
Just outside Boulder, circa January 2021

Normally I love the sound of wind in the trees. But the winds were howling that day. It was difficult to ignore. The house was groaning, shifting. We were in full lockdown due to COVID-19. I was trying to stay busy. 2/
My children were playing outside. Mommy I smell smoke...

At first I didn't smell anything. It was a red flag day. Everyone needed to be careful. But then I smelled it and we saw flames down the road. That is our only way out. What happened next was a blur. 3/
Read 7 tweets
Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Dec 22, 2021
Permafrost stores 2x the amount of carbon in the atmosphere yet is not considered by many climate models. Are we totally screwed??? Here I will explain what we know and why I promote #ClimateActionNow but not panic. 1/ Schematic of global carbon pools showing that permafrost sto
The Arctic (and its permafrost soils) is not a missing black box in any climate model, which all include Arctic soils. Until we explicitly include permafrost in these models, it is difficult to know what climate feedbacks we are missing. Likely to be in the middle. 2/ Image of a permafrost core laying on the ground of a black s
I research abrupt permafrost thaw, known to be a large source of methane. NO large scale models address abrupt thaw, yet. Ouch. Still, some portion of abrupt thaw fluxes are included in current modeling. What's the potential for overlap? More than zero, but we don't know. 3/ Photograph of a thermokarst bog, an example of abrupt permaf
Read 7 tweets
Dr. Merritt Turetsky Profile picture
Nov 11, 2021
Permafrost stores >2x as much as carbon as is in the atmosphere. The most carbon-rich permafrost is associated with ground ice, yet climate models don't account for ice-rich permafrost thaw (Turetsky et al. @Nature 2019). This WICKED problem underestimates Arctic emissions. 1/ Map showing the colocation of carbon rich permafrost soils w
In my @CUBoulder lecture today I outlined a trifecta of uncertainties related to permafrost & carbon.
1) We know plants and new biomass will offset some permafrost soil carbon losses with thaw, but how much? And will that "green carbon" last in the face of 🔥🔥👇 2/ Photograph of a wildfire in a permafrost wetland complex sho
#2 wicked uncertainty. How can climate models include abrupt permafrost thaw that leads to massive erosion, landslides, and subsidence? These are incredible state changes that affect meters and meters of soil carbon, yet are currently ignored by climate models. 3/ Photograph of abrupt thaw leading to thermokarst and loss of
Read 4 tweets

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