High Latitude Peatland Fires and their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

泥炭地是世界上最大的陆地碳储量，仅北部泥炭地就储存了相当于大气中约三分之二的碳。泥炭地还支持关键的生物多样性，并帮助防止洪水和干旱。野火对泥炭地和气候构成了生死存亡的风险，因为碳永远不会被完全重新封存。泥炭地野火很难探测和绘制地图，因为它们可以在整个冬季在地表下阴燃，以一种被称为僵尸火的形式。这也使得量化一个地点对野火活动的易感性和脆弱性具有挑战性。此外，现代文献中对温室气体排放量的估计通常忽略了关键信息，如有机土壤不同层的碳矿化、水分和温度，以及地下水位和泥炭表面的动态。该项目将探索不同的遥感产品如何识别和绘制泥炭地野火的范围，特别是地下僵尸火灾。反照率、地表温度、植被指数、数字地形图等的衍生测量将被用于探测和跟踪。通过将这些遥感产品与北方泥炭地的水文模型结合使用，该项目将寻求提高当代对泥炭地火灾易感性以及火灾活动在气候变化背景下如何演变的认识。这些遥感产品还将被用来通过更准确地绘制泥炭野火的燃烧量来改善对温室气体排放的估计。通过调查基于实验室的泥炭热解实验和基于野外的测量，排放估计值也将得到改善。

Peatlands are the world's largest store of terrestrial carbon, an equivalent of around 2/3 of the carbon in the atmosphere is stored in boreal peatlands alone. Peatlands also support critical biodiversity and help protect from floods and drought. Wildfires pose an existential risk to peatlands and, since carbon is never fully re-sequestered, the climate. Peatland wildfires are difficult to detect and map as they can smoulder below the surface through winter periods, in a form called a zombie fire. This also makes It challenging to quantify a site's susceptibility and vulnerability to wildfire activity. In addition, estimates of greenhouse gas emissions inmodern literature typically ignores critical information, such as carbon mineralisation, moisture, and temperature of different layers of the organic soils as well as the dynamics of the water-table and peat surface. The project will explore how different remote sensing products can identify and map the extent of peatland wildfires, particularly subterranean zombie fires. Derived measures of albedo, surface temperature, vegetation indexes, digital terrain maps, and more will be utilised for detection and tracking. By using these remotesensing products in conjunction with hydrological models of boreal peatlands, the project will seek to improve contemporary understanding of peatland susceptibility to fires and how fire activity may evolve in the context of climate change. The remote sensing products will also be used to improve greenhouse gas emissions estimates from peat wildfires by more accurately mapping their burn volumes. The emission estimates will also be improved by investigating emission factor measurements from both lab based peat pyrolosis experiments and field-based measurements.