Peatland Fire
Peatlands occupy vast areas of the globe. Northern peatlands cover roughly 7 million square miles or approximately 16 percent of the world’s land surface. Most are found in Russia (60 percent) and Canada (30 percent), but they also cover roughly 120 million acres in Alaska’s interior. The US southeastern Coastal Plain contains roughly 6 million acres of peatlands, but they are also found in wet meadows and prairies in the Midwest. Tropical peatlands are widely distributed but are found principally in Southeast Asia.
Fire is a natural, critical process in the development of many of these peatlands, which commonly contain fuels that support high fire intensity, rapid spread rates, and long-range spotting during high winds after brief drying.
If fires occur during periods of extended drought or where peatlands have been drained, extended ground fires occur, resulting in greenhouse gases, smoke, and high fire suppression costs. Multi-million dollar, months-long fires are becoming increasingly common in the southeastern United States, as are multiple-fatality accidents on smoke shrouded highways.
Research Forester Kevin Ryan worked with an international team representing the Indonesian Climate Change Center, the Australian Agency for International Development, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Forest Service’s International Programs, South Dakota State University, and the University of Montana, to study peatland fire behavior and its effects. In addition to research on the U.S. Coastal Plain, the team researched peatlands in Indonesia and worked on improved models for the ignition and burnout of tropical peat soils, improved atmospheric emissions estimates from peatland fires, and long-range forecasting of critical fire weather. Although focused on the island of Borneo, this research has broad applicability to global peatlands.
Principal Investigator: Kevin Ryan
Funding Contributor(s):
RMRS Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program
US Forest Service
Project Years: 2010
Key Personnel
Principal Investigator
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Person
Kevin C. Ryan, PhD
Research Foresterhttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/kryan
Research Staff
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Person
Jim J. Reardon
Forester/Ecologisthttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/jim.reardon
Collaborators
Funding Contributor(s):
- RMRS Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program
- USDA Forest Service