A combined team from the University of Helsinki (Environmental Change Research Unit), the Finnish Meteorological Institute (Atmospheric Composition Unit), and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Climate & Ecosystems Change) was on its way again to gather groundbreaking data on carbon and aerosol emissions from increasing fires in the northern high latitudes. Our journey began in boreal Quebec and now continues to Arctic Greenland.
Climate change is warming the Arctic with partly unexpected consequences. In recent years, unprecedented wildfires have raged through Arctic permafrost terrain burning in 2019 and 2020 alone, an area equal to half of what burned in the previous 40 years. In Greenland, a land known for its icy expanse, fires are rare. However, in July and August 2019, the second-largest wildfire recorded on the island occurred at the Kangerluarsuk Tulleq, northeast of Sisimiut. To our knowledge, fire effects in Greenland have never been studied—until now, as we begin our investigation.
To estimate the carbon burned and greenhouse gases and aerosols released during tundra fires, we assess post-fire ecosystem effects. We measure the dominant ecosystem types within the fire scar and compare them with unburned areas. We evaluate fire severity, and we conduct various aboveground and belowground measurements to calculate and date carbon stores.
Our campaign aimed to efficiently use 29 hours at the destination by collecting samples from all major ecosystems within the fire scar. We arrived by boat (hiking from Sisimiut is also possible but would take 2 days) and spent the day sampling. We camped near the shore, with some of us taking a daring dip in the sea. We continued sampling the next day before returning to Sisimiut in the evening. The study area exemplified the Arctic steppe ecoregion, featuring fragmented ecosystems ranging from barren rocky slopes and drier fields dominated by moss and lichen to moderately wet peatlands. We successfully collected a diverse set of samples from various ecosystems for detailed lab experiments and analysis to be performed back in Finland.
As we were preparing to head home from Greenland, we encountered unexpected foggy weather, which led to flight cancellations for several days. This gave us a well-appreciated few extra days of adventure. Three of us packed our hiking gear and embarked on an overnight hike. The summit of the two mountains we climbed was unforgettable. A key lesson for traveling in Greenland: keep your schedule flexible—it’s worth it!
Overall, the field campaign was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. But that’s not all—can you guess where the fiery journey of Granqvist and Diaz will take them next? Stay tuned!
The Greenland fire expedition was organized within the Research Council of Finland Academy Research Fellow project “Fire in the Arctic,” led by Meri Ruppel, and the Kone Foundation project FLARE. The fieldwork was also part of FireIce (Fire in the land of ice: climatic drivers & feedbacks), a Consolidator project funded by the European Research Council. FireIce is affiliated with NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). This blog post was written by Sonja Granqvist, a Ph.D. student at the University of Helsinki, studying Arctic-boreal fires in collaboration with the Climate & Ecosystems Change research group from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
This blog post is the first in a series to come. Our team, the Climate & Ecosystems Change research group from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is working in collaboration with the Environmental Change Research Unit from the University of Helsinki for a summer with lots of fire field work, science, and adventure. On this journey, our first stop was the Quebec province in Canada. I’m writing this post after our last day of fieldwork here.
The 2023 wildfire season was the largest on record in Canada, with more than double the burned area as the second largest year. In Quebec, an estimated 4.5 million hectares were burned, an area slightly larger than the size of the Netherlands. This record-breaking fire season in Quebec was due to extreme warm and dry conditions. The dense smoke plumes from the 2023 Quebec blazes shocked the world when the smoke reached several cities on the US East Coast, including New York City.
Fellow scientists have been digging deep to understand and explain the phenomena involved in this Quebec fire season. However, as far as we know, estimates of carbon combustion, or the amount of carbon per area burned that is released during a fire, have never been made in Quebec. That’s why we are on it! In loco, since field measurements are a prime way to quantify carbon emissions from fires.
We assess post-fire ecosystem effects to calculate carbon pools below and above ground. In other words, this is the carbon stored in the soil and vegetation. After collecting soil samples and inventorying the vegetation, we can compare burned and unburned (control) locations to estimate how much of this carbon was emitted to the atmosphere due to fire. We do this comparison based on what is called the adventitious root method. On black spruce trees, adventitious roots grow above the initial root collar into the upper soil layers and provide a reference for the pre-fire soil height, as they remain clearly visible many years after fire.
During our expedition, we covered more than 4,000 kilometers on the road. We started by traveling north from Montreal along the James Bay Road and began our sampling at two fires near the locality of Radisson, where the remote Trans-Taiga road was our daily route. We then headed to Waskaganish, on the southeast shore of James Bay, where we sampled another fire. Finally, we ended our campaign at a large fire in the commercial forest near the town of Lebel-sur-Quévillon. All these trips allowed us to make a scientifically interesting transect from North to South in the Quebec province. We also got to know some incredible places, and we are grateful to the people living there who welcomed us.
We were able to observe two different types of intermixed ecosystems in the fires we visited. We found forests dominated by black spruce in peaty lowlands. In drier and often rocky uplands, Jack pine trees dominated. I’m curious to see how these differences will be reflected in practice when we analyze the carbon combustion in these systems.
Our team in the campaign was Lucas Diaz, Max van Gerrevink, Thomas Janssen, Yuquan Qu, and Sander Veraverbeke from VU Amsterdam, and Sonja Granqvist from the University of Helsinki. The success of this expedition is also thanks to our collaborators here in Quebec who helped us during our preparation: Dominique Arseneault (Université du Québec à Rimouski), Jonathan Boucher and Yan Boulanger (Canadian Forest Service), and Fabio Gennaretti (Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue).
This fieldwork is part of my PhD project, so I was responsible for leading and organizing the entire expedition. As hard as it was, the whole process was also a lot of fun. Several times during the campaign, I felt like I was on a holiday road trip with a group of friends. In the end, that’s not entirely wrong. This kind of experience brings us closer to people. It strengthens existing bonds and creates new ones. This great adventure gave me moments that I will remember forever.
Time passes quickly here in the boreal forest. Soon, it will be time to pack our bags and embark on the next stage of this fiery journey. Curious about the destination? Stay tuned!
The Quebec fires expedition is part of FireIce (Fire in the land of ice: climatic drivers & feedbacks). FireIce is a Consolidator project funded by the European Research Council. FireIce is affiliated with NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). This blog post was written by Lucas Ribeiro Diaz, a Ph.D. student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, studying Arctic-boreal fires by combining field and remote sensing approaches.
