Holdover fire

Such fires typically occur in Arctic tundra, smouldering during the winter under the snow and then becoming more intense during the summer.

A study conducted from 2002–2018 in Alaska and the Northwest Territories found that this type of fire burned only 0.8% of the total area burned by all types of fires and that this type of fire caused only 0.5% of the total carbon emissions released by all types of fires.

[1] During the summer of 2019, such fires were estimated to have generated 173 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2),[2] with an estimate of 244 million tonnes from January to August 2019.

[3] The smoke and soot from such fires darken the region, so contributing to further warming and further fires.

[3] Images from satellites such as Sentinel-2 have been used to identify such hot spots.

A smouldering peat fire deep in the soil of the Great Dismal Swamp , Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge , on the border of Virginia and North Carolina