Arctic Region Supercomputing Center

• Apocalyptic orange skies and air pollution levels that force people indoors only tell part of the story, though.
• As global temperatures rise, fires are also spreading farther north and into the Arctic.
• These underground fires are known as “zombie fires,” and there are a number of reasons to worry about the trend.
• Recent research finds that Arctic soil fires can smolder through the winter and reignite during early spring when temperatures rise, hence the nickname “zombie fires.”

The Arctic is increasingly flammable

• However, the severity, frequency and types of wildfires in northern and Arctic regions have changed in recent decades.
• One major culprit is the rising temperature: The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification.
• As the Arctic warms and fires move farther northward, peat soils rich in dead plant material burn at an accelerated rate.
• Northern ecosystems store twice as much carbon in their peat and permafrost as the atmosphere, and both are increasingly vulnerable to fire.

What is a zombie fire?

• Ground fires, on the other hand, do not flame but burn more slowly and have the tendency to spread deep into the ground and spread laterally.
• During the 2019-2020 fire season in Siberia, zombie fires were blamed for rekindling fires the following year.
• They were ignited by slash-and-burn activities to plant palm plantations and amplified by drought conditions during a severe El Niño event.

Some hope and caution from past lessons

• My work and that of many colleagues, however, focus on the combustion of above-ground biomass.
• In the meantime, the continuing waves of wildfire haze in Canada and the U.S. are a reminder of the impact of these fires.
• Best practices for safely fighting zombie fires are also needed, along with better public education about the health risks of wildfire smoke.

• This includes work pertaining to so-called "forever chemicals" or persistent organic pollutants and mercury, as well as microplastic and other plastic pollution in the North.
• "Together, with Indigenous partners, scientists are assessing the presence of contaminants and plastics pollution in Northern and Arctic communities.
• In the 2022–2023 project year, 54 projects were selected for funding from the Northern Contaminants Program.
• The Northern Contaminants Program is inclusive of First Nations, Inuit and Métis residing in Northern and Arctic areas.

• Many factories that perform precarious processes have begun to give more consideration to asset integrity for its purpose in assuring safety.
• The primary factors driving the market growth are the advantages of microservice architecture, like its capability to enhance overall performance and project delivery pace.
• New offshore fields demanding asset integrity management in deep waters could additionally be a significant determinant of the growing market.
• The flourishing size of the oil and gas industry is predicted to promise well for the global asset integrity management market.

• SEATTLE, May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quark Expeditions, the global Leader in Polar Adventures, launched its Arctic 2022 season on May 3, 2022, with a 7-day "Spitsbergen Highlights: Expedition in Brief" voyage.
• "We're so proud of our recent Arctic season launch for myriad reasons," said Andrew White, President of Quark Expeditions.
• Quark Expeditions' Arctic 2022 season features diverse regions, including Spitsbergen, Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic, on multiple small polar vessels.
• About Quark Expeditions:Specializing exclusively in expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic, Quark Expeditions has been the leading innovator of polar adventure since the company took the first group of consumer travelers to the North Pole in 1991.