Tundra recovery post-fire in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Authors

Leah K. Clayton, Yale University
Kevin Schaefer, University of Colorado Boulder
Elizabeth E. Hoy, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Clayton D. Elder, California Institute of Technology
Nancy H. F. French, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Gerald V. Frost, ABR Inc. Environmental Research and Services
et.al.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-25-2025

Department

Michigan Tech Research Institute; College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Abstract

The extent of wildfires in tundra ecosystems has dramatically increased since the turn of the 21st century due to climate change and the resulting amplified Arctic warming. We simultaneously studied the recovery of vegetation, subsurface soil moisture, and active layer thickness (ALT) post-fire in the permafrost-underlain uplands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwestern Alaska to understand the interaction between these factors and their potential implications. We used a space-for-time substitution methodology with 2017 Landsat 8 imagery and synthetic aperture radar products, along with 2016 field data, to analyze tundra recovery trajectories in areas burned from 1953 to 2017. We found that spectral indices describing vegetation greenness and surface albedo in burned areas approached the unburned baseline within a decade post-fire, but ecological succession takes decades. ALT was higher in burned areas compared to unburned areas initially after the fire but negatively correlated with soil moisture. Soil moisture was significantly higher in burned areas than in unburned areas. Water table depth (WTD) was 10 cm shallower in burned areas, consistent with 10 cm of the surface organic layer burned off during fire. Soil moisture and WTD did not recover in the 46 years covered by this study and appear linked to the long recovery time of the organic layer.

Publisher's Statement

Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adbfaa

Supporting Data

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at the following URLs/DOIs: https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1903;

https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2004;

https://doi.org/10.5066/P960F8OC;

www.frames.gov/catalog/10465;

www.mtbs.gov/

Publication Title

Environmental Research Letters

Recommended Citation

Clayton, L., Schaefer, K., Hoy, E., Elder, C., French, N. H., Frost, G., & et.al. (2025). Tundra recovery post-fire in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. Environmental Research Letters, 20(4). http://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adbfaa
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p2/1518

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.