There are 60 square kilometers of "zombie wildfires" in Canada, which secretly burn for several years without being extinguished
This year, there are 60 square kilometers of "zombie wildfires" in Canada's Northwest Territories, which secretly burn for years without extinguishing, not because they don't want it to be extinguished, but because there is really no way to make it go out.
The name "Zombie Wildfire" sounds chilling, so why give it such a terrible name? This is because it burns under the ground, only smoke is visible, no open flame is seen, and the burning continues tepidly, even if people want to extinguish it, it is powerless.
"Zombie wildfires" occur in the peat layer below the surface, which is a layer of organic matter formed by plants, bacteria, fungi and microorganisms decomposing in the soil and accumulating over time, so the peat layer can burn, just like coal.
The peat layer can be subdivided into a fibrous peat layer (Hi), a semi-decomposition peat layer (He) and a highly decompositive peat layer (Ha), which is not too much to introduce here.
Although the peat layer contains a lot of water, this does not affect the combustion, because once the zombie wildfire is ignited, it can slowly dry the surrounding water, and then slowly spread over, burning requires oxygen, and the zombie wildfire will form multiple ventilation holes connected to the surface.
Therefore, once the "zombie wildfire" appears, it is difficult to extinguish, even if it rains continuously, there is no way to stop the "zombie wildfire", at most it only slows down the burning speed, because even if the rainwater seeps in, it will be roasted dry.
The Arctic Circle is rich in peat layers, and the Northwest Region of Canada is just within the Arctic Circle, so the peat layer is very wide, and the "zombie wildfire" does not burn fast, so Canadian experts are troubled by this.
