# Wildfires offset the increasing but spatially heterogeneous Arctic–boreal CO2 uptake

“Wildfires offset the increasing but spatially heterogeneous Arctic–boreal CO2 uptake” (2025), by Anna‐Maria Virkkala et al. Earth and Planetary Sciences research paper. Original abstract below, unchanged. A free PDF is available.

- Authors: Anna‐Maria Virkkala, Brendan M. Rogers, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Stefano Potter, Isabel K. Wargowsky, Edward A. G. Schuur, Craig R. See, Marguerite Mauritz, Julia Boike et al.
- Published: January 21, 2025
- Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02234-5
- Free PDF: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02234-5.pdf

## Abstract

The Arctic-Boreal Zone (ABZ) is rapidly warming, impacting its large soil carbon stocks. We use a new compilation of terrestrial ecosystem CO 2 fluxes, geospatial datasets and random forest models to show that although the ABZ was an increasing terrestrial CO 2 sink from 2001 to 2020 (mean ± standard deviation in net ecosystem exchange: −548 ± 140 Tg C yr -1 ; trend: −14 Tg C yr -1 , p<0.001), more than 30% of the region was a net CO 2 source. Tundra regions may have already started to function on average as CO 2 sources, demonstrating a critical shift in carbon dynamics. After factoring in fire emissions, the increasing ABZ sink was no longer statistically significant (budget: −319 ± 140 Tg C yr -1 ; trend: −9 Tg C yr -1 ), with the permafrost region becoming CO 2 neutral (budget: −24 ± 123 Tg C yr -1 ; trend: −3 Tg C yr -1 ), underscoring the importance of fire in this region.

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