Zombie fires in the Arctic smoulder underground and refuse to die – what’s causing them?

By Sebastian Wieczorek, Professor (Chair) and Head of Applied Mathematics, University College Cork
Eoin O'Sullivan, PhD Candidate in Applied Mathematics, University College Cork
Kieran Mulchrone, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematical Sciences, University College Cork

So-called “zombie fires” in the peatlands of Alaska, Canada and Siberia disappear from the Earth’s surface and smoulder underground during the winter before coming back to life the following spring. These fires puzzle scientists because they appear in early May, way ahead of the usual fire season in the far north, and can reignite for a number of years.

Most scientists believe that zombie fires are the remnants of fires on the surface, but we have identified an alternative cause. Our…

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