zombie fires
Subterranean peat combustion
Zombie fires are wildfires that smolder underground through winter, burning slowly in peat, roots, or organic soil beneath snow cover, then resurface when conditions dry out.
Like their namesake, these fires appear dead but aren't—they can reignite months later, sometimes emerging far from where they originally burned.
The term emerged from climate science as Arctic warming makes such fires increasingly common: Zombie fires from last summer's blazes sparked new outbreaks across the tundra.
- reignitionRenewed combustion
- smokeAirborne combustion byproduct
- smoke plumeRising mass of combustion vapor
- embersSmoldering fire remnants
- heatTransferred thermal energy
burn · peatland · flames · underground · frozen ground · boreal forests · smoldering · ash · overwinter · Siberia · roots · peat bog · damp · char · combustion · moss · global warming · cinder
zombie firesflash fires
Rapidly spreading sudden blazes
crown fires · controlled burns · prescribed burns · firebreak · grass fires