Wildfires occur less frequently in tundra areas of Alaska than in boreal forest, but the rapid climate warming and longer fire seasons we are now seeing are bringing more fire weather to tundra areas--not only in Western Alaska but also on the North Slope of Alaska--where they have been previously very rare. Tundra fire effects are sometimes not as obvious as forest fire effects, and most tundra plant species recover quickly after fire, yet, on some fires, impacts due to induction of soil warming, thermokarst and shifts induced in plant community make-up have the potential to transform the landscape.
Case Studies
Fire Effects Following Tundra Fires on Alaska's North Slope, 2007-2017
This report summarizes information collected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and many partners and cooperators between 2008 and 2017 on the effects of 2007 tundra fires on Alaska’s North Slope.
The Anaktuvuk River Fire geodatabase and database files for vegetation transects are available here.
Findings of Anaktuvuk River fire recovery study 2007-2011
The 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire was an order of magnitude larger than the average fire size in the historic record for northern Alaska and indices of severity were substantially higher than for other recorded tundra burns. Jandt, et al. 2012
Fire behavior, weather, and burn severity of the 2007 Anaktuvuk River Tundra Fire, North Slope, Alaska
In 2007, the Anaktuvuk River Fire (ARF) became the largest recorded tundra fire on the North Slope of Alaska. The ARF burned for nearly three months, consuming more than 100,000 ha. Jones, et al. 2009 content.
Case Studies
Tundra fire history over the past 6000 years in the Noatak National Preserve, northwestern Alaska
The 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire was an order of magnitude larger than the average fire size in the historic record for northern Alaska and indices of severity were substantially higher than for other recorded tundra burns. Jandt, et al. 2012
Anaktuvuk River Fire, Ten Years Later
Eric Miller, BLM Alaska Fire Service Fire Ecologist, describes the 2017 re-survey of the 2007 mega-fire on the North Slope of Alaska. He shows surprising findings with regard to subterranean ice feature degradation, vegetation changes and recovery in this presentation given to the Bureau of Land Management's Arctic Field Office in 2018.
Multi-decadal patterns of vegetation succession after tundra fire on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) is one of the warmest parts of the Arctic tundra biome and tundra fires are common in its upland areas. Here, we combine field measurements, Landsat observations, and quantitative cover maps for tundra plant functional types to characterize multi-decadal succession and landscape change after fire in lichen-dominated upland tundra of the YKD, where extensive wildfires occurred in 1971–1972, 1985, 2006–2007, and 2015. Frost, et al. 2020.
Fire in arctic tundra of Alaska: past fire activity, future fire potential, and significance for land management and ecology
More than 5.4 million acres of Alaska tundra have burned over the past 60 years, A multidecadal analysis of fire in Alaskan Arctic tundra was completed using records from the Alaska Large Fire Database. Tundra vegetation fires are defined by the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map and divided into five tundra ecoregions of Alaska. French, et al. 2015