TUNDRA’S BURNING
More than 20,000 lightning strikes were recorded on the North Slope of Alaska in 2007. Some struck the vast stretches of lakes; some hit the
treeless tundra. And one of them torched into life the largest and longest-lasting tundra fire recorded in the state’s history. The blaze, which started near the Anaktuvuk River on 16 July, burned 7,000 hectares a day at its peak, and eventually consumed 100,000 hectares, an area larger than that of New York City. It finally stopped burning in early October, smothered by thick snow. Arctic lightning fire
Credits: NATURE|Vol 461|3 September 2009
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