Author: Anni Kröger

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) had the pleasure to host the 2nd Wildfire Shared Arctic Variable SAV Finnish workshop in March 2023 where we continued to co-develop possible SAVs under the theme Wildfire. The aim was to expand the work carried out in the first Expert panel meeting held last fall, and to bring in new experts with indigenous, local and global points of views. The key focus was to discuss the information sources and needs related to the topic. We had a great variety of participants from SOGSAKK, SYKE, Finnish forest agency Metsähallitus, Arbonaut, University of Eastern Finland, SámiSoster, Lapland rescue services, FMI, Emergenssi Ltd, HAMK, Municipality of Utsjoki, AVI, Ministry of the Interior Department rescue services and Forest Centre.

During the day, we heard conversation-opening talks, had discussions in smaller groups to ensure everyone’s voice was heard, and shared the groups ideas in a joint debate. Janne Näkkäläjärvi and Mika Aromäki from SOGSAKK talked about the role of education in sharing know-how of fire handling, and the challenges and loss reindeer husbandry is facing due to wildfires, among other natural sources of livelihood. Jussi Hannukari from Lapland rescue service discussed the importance of regional preparedness and the challenge of sufficient resources in wildfire operations. He reminded us that wildfires and their effects can cross-borders, therefore developing co-operation is essential.

The proposed Wildfire theme SAVs from the first Expert panel meeting were introduced and further developed: ignition and fire prone areas were identified as key variables. Available information sources were discussed, for example Janne Kotro (FMI) showed how satellites observations can be utilized with example images from Kalajoki 2021 wildfire, and Juha Aalto (FMI) opened discussion on how microclimate information could be useful in Arctic wildfire preparedness.

In the afternoon, the conversations were continued in smaller groups with key questions: What information is available for Arctic wildfire preparedness? Who gathers and processes information? How to act in changing climate? Afterwards, groups insights were linked with the SAVs. Throughout the day, we had fruitful discussions and we thank warmly all the participants! Stay tuned, in April 2023 the work continues within our international Wildfire SAV workshop, organized in Helsinki.

Wildfire SAV is being developed in Arctic PASSION together with Arctic wildfire preparedness project which supports the local efforts in Finland.

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Sharing Arctic variables – Wildfire Expert panel meeting in Finland
Arctic PASSION project

The 2022 Arctic Circle Assembly was held in Reykjavík, Iceland on 13-16 October with a record 2,000 participants from almost 70 countries and regions. With over 600 speakers, the sessions covered Arctic issues, changes due to the climate crisis, clean energy and many other relevant topics. The phrase “what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic” was often heard during the Assembly, referring to the global scale impacts of Arctic climate change.

During the Assembly, Arctic PASSION organized three sessions: the SAON ROADS process, the Permafrost Shared Arctic Variable (SAV) meeting, and the Wildfire SAV session. The concept behind the SAVs, the RNA CoObs project and the SAV work supported by Arctic PASSION Pilot Services were presented in the SAON ROADS session. Read more on these topics from the Arctic PASSION blog Highlights of Arctic PASSION at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2022.

The half-day Perfmafrost SAV meeting had excellent attendance, with good discussion and interesting presentations. One of the speakers was Candace Cockney, who introduced the exciting observation activities by Inuits in Tuktoyaktuk. The Frederik Paulsen Arctic Academic Action Award winners Hanne H. Christiansen and Marius O. Jonassen gave also a talk on their winning PermaMeteoCommunity project.

The Wildfire SAV theme session included an overview about Arctic wildfires, a talk from Delvin Fernandes from Gwich’in Council International, and introduction to Arctic PASSION work on Pilot Service 4 on PS4: ‘Integrated Fire Risk Management (INFRA)’ Service. Additionally, the Finnish Arctic wildfire preparedness project shared their experience on their Wildfire SAV expert panel initiation workshop, and what was learned and achieved during the discussions. The Finnish Wildfire SAV workhop received many praises and inspired enthusiasm, with future merging of other local Wildfire SAV initiation expert panels discussed.

The Arctic Circle Assembly 2022 was a great event with many interesting and inspiring talks, meetings and exhibitions. We thank all the speakers and organizers and look forward to the next years Assembly!

In September 2022, a group of experts with diverse backgrounds got together to share their knowledge and insights in co-creation of Wildfire Shared Arctic Variable (SAV). This first expert panel meeting took place in Arctic Space Centre in Sodankylä, Finland with workshop participants Janne Näkkäläjärvi , Jussi Hannukari, Mika Aromäki, Timo Ryyppö, Anni Kröger, Mikko Strahlendorff and Saara Lilja. The main goal of the meeting was to initiate the discussion about the theme Wildfire SAV with indigenous and local points of views. Wildfire SAV is being developed in Arctic PASSION together with Arctic wildfire preparedness project which supports the local efforts in Finland.

In Finland’s two-day SAV workshop, to kick-off discussion, every panelist answered the key question from their standpoint: Where does the Sàmi community/Sodankylä municipality/Climate change modelling collide with wildfire? Based on that, the SAV process was continued with determining the main themes under Wildfire SAV. The key issues were where wildfire occurs and what kind of knowledge is important about the fuel: ignition place, soil moisture, prescribed burning and important infrastructure or nature that is not allowed to burn (”where burning is forbidden”).

During the SAV process, trust, dialogue and common language were raised as important starting points and pillars of successful discussion. Finland’s SAV meeting was held in Finnish, a common language to all the participants. Many interesting related topics were talked about, including for example a project led by the Sámi Education Institute called Dialogues and Encounters in the Arctic which purpose is to initiate dialogue between the Arctic Indigenous peoples and researchers on challenges affecting the Arctic. The first expert panel meeting was inspiring and we are looking forward to continuing this work in the future meetings!

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Previous story Wildfires in the Arctic

Climate change is likely to increase extreme fire weather at the northern high latitudes and the risk, frequency and severity of Arctic wildfires.

Wildfires release significant amounts of pollution into the atmosphere with, for example, a total estimate of 16 million tonnes of carbon emissions from Arctic wildfires in 2021. These were the fourth-highest emissions in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service’s (CAMS) 18-year Global Fire Assimilation System GFAS dataset dating back to 2003. The record activity for Arctic wildfires in 2020 with estimated 58 million tonnes of carbon emitted shows how severe effect Arctic wildfires can potentially have in the future. To compare, in 2020 Finland’s total annual carbon emissions were around 40 million tonnes.

The figure above shows the locations of 2021 Arctic wildfire activity in June-August season with drier-than-average/wetter-than average soil conditions (reference period 1991-2020), where the most intense wildfires occur mostly in areas with drier soils. Smoke from wildfires can reach areas thousands of kilometers from the source fire, affecting air quality in larger regions. In summer 2021, the smoke released by wildfires in eastern Siberia was transported over large distances in the Arctic, as can be seen in the figures below.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report (IPCC AR6) Working Group 2, ”widespread, pervasive impacts to ecosystems, people, settlements, and infrastructure have resulted from observed increases in the frequency and intensity of climate and weather extremes”, including fire weather. Arctic wildfires threaten especially Indigenous and other Arctic communities whose livelihood depends on the nature. Understanding, monitoring and predicting future Arctic wildfires is important for fire management, infrastructure planning, local communities and ecosystems.

In Arctic PASSION (Pan-Arctic Observing System of Systems) project one focus point is Arctic wildfires. Example actions within Arctic PASSION are developing Integrated Fire Risk Management (INFRA) Pilot Service and co-defining Shared Arctic Variable (SAV) Wildfire with an expert panel of global, regional, indigenous and local voices and interests. In September 2022, an expert panel from Finland is gathering together to discuss Wildfire SAV and will later share their results with wider user groups in Arctic Circle Assembly 2022. News on Finland’s Wildfire SAV gathering will be posted here in October.

Image credits CAMS/C3S/ECMWF.

Based on an online article Arctic in 2021: Wildfires (Copernicus Climate Bulletin).

Read more:
Arctic PASSION project website
Reviews and syntheses: Arctic fire regimes and emissions in the 21st century (McCarty et al., 2021)
IPCC’s 2019 Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (Meredith et al., 2019).