Climate change has contributed to the increase in the number of wildfires across the globe especially in the Arctic.
Climate change has contributed to the increase in the number of wildfires across the globe especially in the Arctic where forest fires, along with increased permafrost thaw, can dramatically shift stream chemistry and potentially harm both ecosystems and humans. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that some of the aftereffects of a burn, like decreased carbon and increased nitrogen, can last up to five decades and could have major implications on nearby vital waterways like the Yenisei River that drains into the Arctic Ocean, and other similar waterways around the world.
“Forest fires in this region of the Arctic used to happen about every hundred years and now we’re seeing them every summer,” said Bianca Rodríguez-Cardona ’20G, who just received a Ph.D. in UNH’s natural resources and Earth system sciences program. “This increase in fires leads to more input of inorganic solutes into local streams which can alter the chemistry and trigger issues like increased algae blooms and bacteria that can be harmful to humans who depend on these waterways for drinking water, fishing and their livelihood.”
In the study, recently published in the journal Nature’s Scientific Reports, UNH researchers collected stream water samples in the Central Siberian Plateau in Russia during the summer months of June and July from 2016 to 2018.
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