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Yoshikawa, Kenji

The impact to the permafrost during and after wildfire was studied using 11 boreal forest fire sites including two controlled burns. Heat transfer by conduction to the permafrost was not significant during fire. Immediately following fire, ground thermal conductivity may increase 10-fold and the surface albedo can decrease by 50% depending on the extent of burning of the surficial organic soil. The thickness of the remaining organic layer strongly affects permafrost degradation and aggradation. If the organic layer thickness was not reduced during the burn, then the active layer (the layer of soil above permafrost that annually freezes and thaws) did not change after the burn in spite of the surface albedo decrease....
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