Remnants of a spruce forest

Remnants of a spruce forest complex following a severe wildfire in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Wildfires are the dominant landscape-scale disturbance operating at annual time scales in Alaska, and fires play a major role in the rate and extent of vegetation growth and productivity of a site. Wildland fires typically result in the reduction of surface albedos shortly after occurrence and combustion of below and above-ground biomass results in the release of heat trapping gases to the atmosphere.  Photo by Bruce Wylie, USGS.