"Zombie fires" in Yakutia "wait out" the harsh winter under a meter of snow

It's only May, and some regions of Siberia are already on fire. If you look into this issue, it turns out that some of these forest fires have not been extinguished since last summer, but continued to burn in a very cold environment at almost -50 degrees Celsius.

Now these zombie bonfires are slowly starting to "crawl out" from under the snow. According to the researchers, they are most likely responsible for the early onset of forest fires, and not global warming at all.

On November 20, 2020, a peat fire near Khandyga was first seen by local residents. The video, obtained at the end of February 21 at a temperature of -30 degrees Celsius, shows that the peat bog did not stop burning.

Last week, the authorities of Novosibirsk notified residents about the occurrence of such a phenomenon as "black sky". Smoke from nearby wildfires enveloped the city.

According to local media, 27 houses were destroyed in Kemerovo, 50 in Novosibirsk, and even more in other nearby areas.

In early 2021, local residents also reported fires burning underground.

They believe the area suffered from extremely hot and dry weather. There must be either peat burning here, or, as some hunters who have noticed these fires suggest, perhaps young coal.

There is a feeling that last year's summer fires did not stop at all. Last winter was the coldest in Yakutia since 2006, when the air temperature dropped to -59 degrees Celsius.

Currently, images obtained by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites show pockets of forest fires near Oymyakon, known as one of the coldest places on Earth, also popularly called the "Cold Pole".

What are peat fires?

Zombie fires slowly smolder at low temperatures and spread underground, making them difficult to detect, localize, and extinguish. They produce little flame and a lot of smoke, which can become a threat to public health as the smoke creeps over the ground and destroys nearby villages and towns.

Peat fires are the largest and most complex, as they are very difficult to extinguish due to the depth. Untouched peat is too wet, but when it dries, it becomes flammable.

Nature has the most effective solution to this problem – heavy rains, which can completely flood the peatlands. One way to get water is to encourage rain by increasing the amount of clouds.

There is another approach to dealing with peatlands. A network of narrow tunnels is blocked, through which swampy peat receives nutrients, as well as through which oxygen is supplied to underground foci. It turns out that these underground tunnels in the peatlands allow fires to "survive" under the snow for months.