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A study of ice and fire: Climate change melts snow cover, worsens wildfire emissions and risk
https://news.mcmaster.ca/a-study-of-ice-and-fire-climate-change-melts-snow-cover-worsens-wildfire-emissions-and-risk/Snow that builds up on wildfire-charred ground has a cooling effect that can offset emissions, but climate change is shrinking the snow cover, research shows.
June 3, 2026
After northern forests burn, snow settles over the charred, open ground, creating a surface far brighter than the darker tree canopy of intact forests. This increases the surface brightness, known as surface albedo, which reflects more solar energy. In some regions, this can offset a substantial portion of the warming driven by carbon dioxide emitted from wildfires.
Diminishing periods of snow cover in northern forests, shortened by climate change, are poised to disrupt a delicate balance in some of the planet’s most climate-sensitive regions, according to new research from McMaster University, VU Amsterdam, and the Woodwell Climate Research Center.
…
When northern forests burn, the charred landscape sits exposed through long winters. Snow settles over the open ground, creating a surface far brighter than the darker tree canopy of intact forests. This increases the surface brightness, known as surface albedo, which reflects more solar energy.
…
For decades, this has been one of the natural processes helping to cool the climate after northern wildfires. However, declining snow cover across northern latitudes is steadily eroding this albedo cooling effect, exposing a feedback loop with serious consequences for the global climate.
“What was once a partial brake on warming is turning into a vicious cycle that accelerates warming and fuels even more intense fires,” says study co-author Alemu Gonsamo, associate professor of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster.
…
M.J. van Gerrevink, A. Gonsamo, B.M. Rogers, S. Potter, Z. Zhong, & S. Veraverbeke, Canadian wildfires are losing their climate-cooling influence from postfire snow albedo, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (23) e2600434123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2600434123 (2026).June 3, 2026
After northern forests burn, snow settles over the charred, open ground, creating a surface far brighter than the darker tree canopy of intact forests. This increases the surface brightness, known as surface albedo, which reflects more solar energy. In some regions, this can offset a substantial portion of the warming driven by carbon dioxide emitted from wildfires.
Diminishing periods of snow cover in northern forests, shortened by climate change, are poised to disrupt a delicate balance in some of the planet’s most climate-sensitive regions, according to new research from McMaster University, VU Amsterdam, and the Woodwell Climate Research Center.
…
When northern forests burn, the charred landscape sits exposed through long winters. Snow settles over the open ground, creating a surface far brighter than the darker tree canopy of intact forests. This increases the surface brightness, known as surface albedo, which reflects more solar energy.
…
For decades, this has been one of the natural processes helping to cool the climate after northern wildfires. However, declining snow cover across northern latitudes is steadily eroding this albedo cooling effect, exposing a feedback loop with serious consequences for the global climate.
“What was once a partial brake on warming is turning into a vicious cycle that accelerates warming and fuels even more intense fires,” says study co-author Alemu Gonsamo, associate professor of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster.
…