Zombie fires!
Fire, fire, fire
[Verse 1]
Oh, Canada (Da, da, da)
Have we failed ya? (Ya, ya, ya)
Up in smoke
Is no joke
[Chorus]
Zombie fire
Rising higher
Zombie fire
Situation’s dire
[Break]
Zombie…
Fire, fire, fire
[Instrumental, Guitar Solo, Drum Fills]
[Verse 2]
Oh, Canada (Oh, Oh, No)
Where will we go (Go, go, go)
Up in smoke
No zombie joke
[Chorus]
Zombie fire
Rising higher
Zombie fire
Situation’s dire
[Break]
Zombie…
Fire, fire, fire
[Instrumental, Saxophone Solo, Drum Fills]
[Bridge]
Zombie after me
Nowhere to flea
God help me!
Zombie fire
Rising higher
Heed the crier
Fire, fire, fire
[Chorus]
Zombie fire
Rising higher
Zombie fire
Situation’s dire
[Break]
Zombie…
Fire, fire, fire
[Instrumental, Bass, Drum Fills]
[Outro]
Zombie after me
Nowhere to flea
God help me!
Zombie fire
Rising higher
Heed the crier
Fire, fire, fire
[End]
A SCIENCE NOTE
Daniel asked, “Do you think the permafrost and peatlands will have zombie fires and cause the permafrost tipping point?”
Sidd responded, “Yes. They are gone, too. We already know from the permafrost peatland fires in Siberia.”
Daniel ponders, “Hmmmm… I guess that means my plan went up in smoke? My worst case scenario / last resort emergency plan was to escape to Canada.”
NASA reported: Wildland fire experts have described Canada’s 2023 fire season as record-breaking and shocking. Over the course of a fire season that started early and ended late, blazes have burned an estimated 18.4 million hectares. Hundreds of fires exceeded 10,000 hectares (39 square miles), large enough to be considered “megafires.” These megafires were also unusually widespread this season, charring forests from British Columbia and Alberta in the west to Quebec and the Atlantic provinces in the east to the Northwest Territories and the Yukon in the north.
Forest fires cause a carbon feedback loop. The carbon emissions of Canada’s fires outweighed the combined emissions from its oil and gas, transport, and agriculture sectors. The fires also cause the melting of the permafrost and zombie fires to burn in the permafrost. The permafrost collapse is a self-sustaining feedback loop/tipping point. As the permafrost melts, the peatlands emit CO2 and methane. The increase in CO2 and methane results in more warming that results in more peatland emissions. A third feedback loop is created with lightning strikes. The study Forests at Risk Due to Lightning Fires found a sensitivity of extratropical intact forests to potential increases in lightning fires, which would have far-reaching consequences for terrestrial carbon storage and biodiversity. The results show that, on a global scale, lightning is the primary ignition source of fires in temperate and boreal forests. Global warming causes more extreme weather events and conditions for lightning, creating more forest fires that create more warming and more lightning strikes.
The study Wildfire as a major driver of recent permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands published in the Journal Nature Communications found wildfires have caused a quarter of permafrost thaw (2,000 square kilometers) in Western Canada’s boreal peatlands over the past 30 years. “Historically, permafrost in this area underwent a natural cycle of thawing and reforming, but given current climate conditions and projections for the future, this fire-induced thaw appears to be irreversible,” said Carolyn Gibson, who conducted the research.
On January 1, 2024, the article, Why Are Alaska’s Rivers Turning Orange?, was published in Scientific America. “Streams in Alaska are turning orange with iron and sulfuric acid. Scientists who have studied these rusting rivers agree that the ultimate cause is climate change. Kobuk Valley National Park has warmed by 2.4 degrees Celsius (4.32 degrees Fahrenheit) since 2006 and could get another 10.2 degrees C hotter by 2100, a greater increase than projected for any other national park. The heat may already have begun to thaw 40 percent of the park’s permafrost, the layer of earth just under the topsoil that normally remains frozen year-round. McPhee wanted to protect the Salmon River because humans had ‘not yet begun to change it.’ Now, less than 50 years later, we have done just that. The last great wilderness in America, which by law is supposed to be ‘untrammeled by man,’ is being trammeled from afar by our global emissions.”
(May 2024) Even in the dead of Canada’s winter, the embers of last year’s record-setting wildfire season remain. So-called zombie fires are burning under thick layers of snow at an unprecedented rate, raising fears about what the coming summer may bring. People driving on the highway through the town of Fort Nelson, British Columbia (BC) in the winter can easily see – and smell – the clouds of white smoke flowing from the soil around them. Sonja Leverkus, a firefighter and scientist who is local to the small northeastern BC town, recalled driving during a snowstorm in November, but the snowfall didn’t look white. Rather, she said, it was blueish-grey because of the smoke in the air. “I’ve never experienced a snowstorm that smelled like smoke,” said Ms. Leverkus, who has lived in northern BC for more than 15 years.
