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Are the fires typically peat fires or forest fires? Because right now they are having the former.

H8crilA 7y ago
Forest fires. Not sure how common peat fires are - don't know almost anything about them. Looks like a much bigger deal (because it's rare, hence the ecosystem/communities are not prepared to deal with them). Also they're having forest fires too, like every year: http://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html http://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html > Pierre Markuse, a satellite imagery processing guru, has documented some of the blazes attacking the forests and peatlands of the Arctic. I was just there a few weeks ago. Reduced visibility in many places due to smoke, many "thank you firefighters!" signs along the road, helicopters picking up water from some of the millions of Alaskan lakes. It's still a very beautiful place.
- garmaine 7y ago
  This isn’t about local ecosystem disruption. It’s about releasing more global warming gasses into the atmosphere than humans have produced since the start of the industrial revolution.
  - wavefunction 7y ago
    Carbon monoxide is probably preferable to methane in the atmosphere. (attached link discusses carbon dioxide vs methane as greenhouse gases, carbon monoxide is less troublesome than CO2) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327111724.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327111724.h... This is my optimistic take! :D
    - garmaine 7y ago
      The peat consists of methane, fyi.
  - H8crilA 7y ago
    Burning down the entire world's vegetation would result in less carbon emissions than we've already emitted. It's actually a pretty mind blowing fact. http://www.futureearth.org/blog/2018-jan-31/how-much-carbon-does-planets-vegetation-hold http://www.futureearth.org/blog/2018-jan-31/how-much-carbon-... > Trees and other vegetation are the planet’s carbon storage closet – absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in an ongoing cycle. But just how big is that potential? A study from December has calculated that the world’s vegetation, from Amazonian rainforests to Eurasian grasslands, may hold about 450 billion tonnes of carbon today. https://www.co2.earth/global-co2-emissions https://www.co2.earth/global-co2-emissions > From 1870 to 2014, cumulative carbon emissions totaled about 545 GtC. Emissions were partitioned among the atmosphere (approx. 230 GtC or 42%), ocean (approx. 155 GtC or 28%) and the land (approx. 160 GtC or 29%).
    - rebuilder 7y ago
      But we're discussing peat, which is accumulated over thousands of years.
      - H8crilA 7y ago
        Pardon my ignorance, that does indeed look worse.
        H8crilA 7y ago
        Actually it's about carbon trapped in the permafrost, not in the peat. Idk how burning peat contributes to permafrost melt.
    - Misdicorl 7y ago
      Elsewhere in the comments someone mentions that the released carbon from all peat burning is about 2.5 times more than all emissions since the start of the industrial revolution.
    - lrem 7y ago
      What's discussed here are Siberian permafrost peat fires, not Alaskan forest fires.

Forest fires. Not sure how common peat fires are - don't know almost anything about them. Looks like a much bigger deal (because it's rare, hence the ecosystem/communities are not prepared to deal with them). Also they're having forest fires too, like every year: http://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html http://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html > Pierre Markuse, a satellite imagery processing guru, has documented some of the blazes attacking the forests and peatlands of the Arctic. I was just there a few weeks ago. Reduced visibility in many places due to smoke, many "thank you firefighters!" signs along the road, helicopters picking up water from some of the millions of Alaskan lakes. It's still a very beautiful place.

garmaine 7y ago
This isn’t about local ecosystem disruption. It’s about releasing more global warming gasses into the atmosphere than humans have produced since the start of the industrial revolution.
- wavefunction 7y ago
  Carbon monoxide is probably preferable to methane in the atmosphere. (attached link discusses carbon dioxide vs methane as greenhouse gases, carbon monoxide is less troublesome than CO2) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327111724.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327111724.h... This is my optimistic take! :D
  - garmaine 7y ago
    The peat consists of methane, fyi.
- H8crilA 7y ago
  Burning down the entire world's vegetation would result in less carbon emissions than we've already emitted. It's actually a pretty mind blowing fact. http://www.futureearth.org/blog/2018-jan-31/how-much-carbon-does-planets-vegetation-hold http://www.futureearth.org/blog/2018-jan-31/how-much-carbon-... > Trees and other vegetation are the planet’s carbon storage closet – absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in an ongoing cycle. But just how big is that potential? A study from December has calculated that the world’s vegetation, from Amazonian rainforests to Eurasian grasslands, may hold about 450 billion tonnes of carbon today. https://www.co2.earth/global-co2-emissions https://www.co2.earth/global-co2-emissions > From 1870 to 2014, cumulative carbon emissions totaled about 545 GtC. Emissions were partitioned among the atmosphere (approx. 230 GtC or 42%), ocean (approx. 155 GtC or 28%) and the land (approx. 160 GtC or 29%).
  - rebuilder 7y ago
    But we're discussing peat, which is accumulated over thousands of years.
    - H8crilA 7y ago
      Pardon my ignorance, that does indeed look worse.
      - H8crilA 7y ago
        Actually it's about carbon trapped in the permafrost, not in the peat. Idk how burning peat contributes to permafrost melt.
  - Misdicorl 7y ago
    Elsewhere in the comments someone mentions that the released carbon from all peat burning is about 2.5 times more than all emissions since the start of the industrial revolution.
  - lrem 7y ago
    What's discussed here are Siberian permafrost peat fires, not Alaskan forest fires.