Wildfires are spreading across the Arctic and the impacts reach far beyond the north

By Mary McAuliffe February 13, 2026
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The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this image of a fire burning in the Magadan Oblast district of Siberia on April 8, 2019. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wildfires are becoming bigger, hotter, and more frequent across the Arctic, including in areas that were once too cold or wet to burn. The shift has been linked to rapid climate warming, according to a recent feature by NASA Earth Observatory analyzing the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) report released in 2025.

Researchers found that climate change is making Arctic landscapes more flammable (with drier soil and more lightning), leading to fire patterns unlike anything seen in the region before. These intense fires not only reshape ecosystems but can also release ancient carbon stored in permafrost and peat, with consequences for global climate, human health, and Arctic communities.

“Fire has always been a part of boreal and Arctic landscapes, but now it’s starting to act in more extreme ways that mimic what we’ve seen in the temperate and the tropical areas,” said Jessica McCarty, an Arctic fire specialist and the Deputy Earth Science Division Chief at NASA’s Ames Research Center. According to the report, the concerning findings are not just about how many fires have been recorded in the region, but also how hot they are burning. 

 Key takeaways:

  • Fires are increasing and intensifying: NASA satellite data and AMAP analysis show that wildland fires in the Arctic are becoming more frequent, larger in area, and burning hotter than in past decades, with trends linked to warming air and landscape conditions. The observed changes mark a pattern similar to fire behavior in temperate and tropical regions.
  • The Arctic is warming rapidly: The far north is warming nearly four times faster than the global average, reducing soil moisture and increasing lightning, the primary ignition source for fires, which together create a powder-keg for a more fire-prone environment.
  • New fire behavior is reshaping ecosystems: Intense fires kill trees, burn deep into carbon-rich soils, and change water flow and snowmelt patterns. Repeated burns in the same areas threaten recovery and biodiversity.
  • Peat, permafrost, and “zombie” fires: Deep peat layers and ancient permafrost store vast amounts of carbon. When fires burn into these soils, they can smolder underground through winter, then reignite in spring, releasing additional carbon dioxide and methane.
  • Health and community risks: Smoke from large, hot burns can harm air quality and human health in nearby communities and disrupt habitat for wildlife that Arctic peoples rely on.
  • Vast carbon stores at stake: Arctic peat and permafrost together hold twice as much carbon as Earth’s entire atmosphere. Their warming and burning could accelerate climate change far beyond the region.
  • Observation and technology are critical: NASA satellites have provided 25 years of fire data, helping scientists monitor changing fire patterns. New satellites and AI are improving the ability to detect and model Arctic fires. 

Why it matters:

The Arctic’s fire regime is shifting from rare, low-intensity burns to frequent, more intense wildfires that can fundamentally alter landscapes and release ancient carbon stores. These changes not only threaten Arctic ecosystems and communities but also feed back into the global climate system, making climate stabilization efforts more difficult and uncertain.

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