Water pollution risks by smoldering fires in degraded peatlands

Liu, Haojie; Žák, Dominik; Zableckis, Nerijus; Cossmer, Antje; Langhammer, Nicole; Meermann, Björn; Lennartz, Bernd

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161979

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Boreal forests in North America have turned from a net sink to a net source of GHG in recent years (Zhao et al 2021 ), primarily due to more frequent and more severe fires (Zheng et al 2023 ). In addition to the carbon loss from burnt wood, as well as substantial carbon losses from burnt and burning peat layers, should be considered, including the waterborne carbon losses (Liu et al 2023 ). In countries with a relatively high density of forest roads, such as Finland, the severity of forest fires on peatland could be increased.…”

Section: Climate Impact Of Peatland Forestrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option under the EU Nature Restoration Law

Jurasinski,

Barthelmes,

Byrne

et al. 2024

Ambio

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The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is critical for the restoration of degraded ecosystems and active afforestation of degraded peatlands has been suggested as a restoration measure under the NRL. Here, we discuss the current state of scientific evidence on the climate mitigation effects of peatlands under forestry. Afforestation of drained peatlands without restoring their hydrology does not fully restore ecosystem functions. Evidence on long-term climate benefits is lacking and it is unclear whether CO2 sequestration of forest on drained peatland can offset the carbon loss from the peat over the long-term. While afforestation may offer short-term gains in certain cases, it compromises the sustainability of peatland carbon storage. Thus, active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option for climate mitigation under the EU Nature Restoration Law and might even impede future rewetting/restoration efforts. Instead, restoring hydrological conditions through rewetting is crucial for effective peatland restoration.

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Section: Climate Impact Of Peatland Forestrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option under the EU Nature Restoration Law

Jurasinski,

Barthelmes,

Byrne

et al. 2024

Ambio

Self Cite

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“…In addition, afforested drained peatlands are more susceptible to wildfires (Kohlenberg et al 2018 ; Zheng et al 2023 ). These risks are exacerbated by more frequent and more intense droughts in the boreal zone (Walker et al 2019 ), resulting in losses of burnt wood and substantial C losses from burnt and burning peat layers (Liu et al 2023 ). The impacts of severe fires have been devastating drained areas of formerly tropical peatland forests in Southeast Asia (Page et al 2009 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peatland restoration pathways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and retain peat carbon

Mander,

Espenberg,

Melling

et al. 2023

Biogeochemistry

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Peatlands play a crucial role in the global carbon (C) cycle, making their restoration a key strategy for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and retaining C. This study analyses the most common restoration pathways employed in boreal and temperate peatlands, potentially applicable in tropical peat swamp forests. Our analysis focuses on the GHG emissions and C retention potential of the restoration measures. To assess the C stock change in restored (rewetted) peatlands and afforested peatlands with continuous drainage, we adopt a conceptual approach that considers short-term C capture (GHG exchange between the atmosphere and the peatland ecosystem) and long-term C sequestration in peat. The primary criterion of our conceptual model is the capacity of restoration measures to capture C and reduce GHG emissions. Our findings indicate that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most influential part of long-term climate impact of restored peatlands, whereas moderate methane (CH4) emissions and low N2O fluxes are relatively unimportant. However, lateral losses of dissolved and particulate C in water can account up to a half of the total C stock change. Among the restored peatland types, Sphagnum paludiculture showed the highest CO2 capture, followed by shallow lakes and reed/grass paludiculture. Shallow lakeshore vegetation in restored peatlands can reduce CO2 emissions and sequester C but still emit CH4, particularly during the first 20 years after restoration. Our conceptual modelling approach reveals that over a 300-year period, under stable climate conditions, drained bog forests can lose up to 50% of initial C content. In managed (regularly harvested) and continuously drained peatland forests, C accumulation in biomass and litter input does not compensate C losses from peat. In contrast, rewetted unmanaged peatland forests are turning into a persistent C sink. The modelling results emphasized the importance of long-term C balance analysis which considers soil C accumulation, moving beyond the short-term C cycling between vegetation and the atmosphere.

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“…In peatlands, the volume of carbon emissions is even greater due to the immense volumes of carbon dioxide and methane stored in peat [3,4,19]. Peatland wildfires are hazardous to human health as a result of the widespread effects of air pollution and water pollution, due to peatland's connectivity with water systems [18,20,21].…”

Section: Introduction 1hydrologic Variability and Wildfires In Peatlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Use of Sentinel-1 for Improved Mapping of Small Peatland Water Bodies: Towards Wildfire Susceptibility Monitoring in Canada’s Boreal Forest

et al. 2023

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Peatlands provide vital ecosystem and carbon services, and Canada is home to a significant peatland carbon stock. Global climate warming trends are expected to lead to increased carbon release from peatlands, as a consequence of drought and wildfire. Monitoring hydrologic regimes is a key in understanding the impacts of warming, including monitoring changes in small and temporally variable water bodies in peatlands. Global surface water mapping has been implemented, but the spatial and temporal scales of the resulting data products prevent the effective monitoring of peatland water bodies, which are small and prone to rapid hydrologic changes. One hurdle in the quest to improve remote-sensing-derived global surface water map quality is the omission of small and temporally variable water bodies. This research investigated the reasons for small peatland water body omission as a preparatory step for surface water mapping, using Sentinel-1 SAR data and image classification methods. It was found that Sentinel-1 backscatter signatures for small peatland water bodies differ from large water bodies, due in part to differing physical characteristics such as waves and emergent vegetation, and limitations in detectable feature sizes as a result of SAR image processing and resolution. The characterization of small peatland water body backscatter provides a theoretical basis for the development of SAR-based surface water mapping methods with high accuracy for our purposes of wildfire susceptibility monitoring in peatlands. This study discusses the implications of small peatland water body omission from surface water maps on carbon, climate, and hydrologic models.

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Water pollution risks by smoldering fires in degraded peatlands

Cited by 8 publications

References 57 publications

Active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option under the EU Nature Restoration Law

Active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option under the EU Nature Restoration Law

Peatland restoration pathways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and retain peat carbon

Investigating the Use of Sentinel-1 for Improved Mapping of Small Peatland Water Bodies: Towards Wildfire Susceptibility Monitoring in Canada’s Boreal Forest

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