Greg Verkaik

For over 15 years the McMaster Ecohydro Lab has awarded the #NobelPeatPrize to the authors of the best peatland or peat paper of the year.

It’s that time of year again where we review papers and finalize a list of nominees.

Do you have a fave paper for 2025 you would like us to consider?

Carbon emissions from Canada's wildfires are spiking. But that's not counting our vast peatlands | CBC News A new government model to estimate peatland emissions and their impact on climate change could provide a new perspective on the problem — and spark new discussions about solutions.

Always a pleasure to share information about how important our peatlands in Canada are and raise awareness about the threats they face
www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Carbon emissions from Canada's wildfires are spiking. But that's not counting our vast peatlands | CBC News A new government model to estimate peatland emissions and their impact on climate change could provide a new perspective on the problem — and spark new discussions about solutions.

CBC getting the word out there on peatland wildfire emissions, an increasingly important topic as fire seasons keep getting worse in Canada.
www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Wildfires send Canada's carbon emissions soaring. And our peatlands emit even more | CBC News A new government model to estimate peatland emissions and their impact on climate change could provide a new perspective on the problem — and spark new discussions about solutions.

www.cbc.ca/news/science...
Glad to see this topic at the top of CBC News - watching fires burn up the boreal year after year sucks, and it's the peatlands burning that I worry about most

Carbon emissions from Canada's wildfires are spiking. But that's not counting our vast peatlands | CBC News A new government model to estimate peatland emissions and their impact on climate change could provide a new perspective on the problem — and spark new discussions about solutions.

CBC highlights the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from peatland fires in Canada.

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

CBC story on Canadian peatlands and wildfire featuring @gregverkaik.bsky.social @olefeldt.bsky.social @wetland-ghg.bsky.social

Digging deep: Fieldwork helping Canada prepare for a hotter, drier future Greg Verkaik's research aims to better understand how peatlands influence wildfire behaviour - and how we can reduce the risk of wildfires.

As Canada braces for another intense wildfire season, Greg Verkaik is digging into how drying peatlands are fuelling deep-burning fires. His fieldwork is providing critical insight in a warming world.

More: brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/fie...

#Wildfires #Peatlands #McMasterExperts

Huge thank you to all of the many folks that helped with this research – getting the first of my PhD papers (and my first, first author paper) wouldn’t be possible without amazing collaborators. #funfieldworkwithfriends [9/9]

Finally, we tested a novel approach to remotely sense peatland burn severity using only post-fire LiDAR. This highlights areas of deep burning (jackpots), which can aid in focusing fire management and restoration activities. [8/9]

Peatland margins are already at a greater risk for greater DOBs, but for the first time we analyzed the impact of drainage and peatland position on burn severity and found that drained margins experienced the greatest DOBs and peat carbon losses. [7/9]

Given that the afforestation feedback continues to dry out the peatland long after the initial impact of drainage we present a conceptual model outlining how the area around which a ditch has influence increases through time, increasing a the "peat fuel load" along with the increases in CFL. [6/9]

We found that canopy fuels and aboveground (tree) biomass are greater the closer you are to drainage ditches and that DOBs were greater where there was both greater AGBM and closer to ditches. [5/9]

But drainage in forested peatlands also initiates the afforestation feedback increases tree productivity, forest cover, and canopy fuels which causes further surface drying and shifts toward more flammable moss communities. [4/9]

Boreal peatlands are resistant to wildfire, but drainage causes ecohydrological shifts in peatlands which can lead to extreme depths of burn. Drainage dries the peat surface and increases peat decomposition, which both increase smouldering risks. [3/9]

The big take home message: drainage in forested peatlands increases the potential for extreme smouldering, which puts a strain on fire management, and presents health risks to communities and ecosystems. Restoration and fuel management should go hand in hand in drained boreal peatlands. [2/9]

Check our new paper “Fuel Loads and Peat Smoldering Carbon Loss Increase Following Drainage in a Forested Boreal Peatland” published in JGR-Biogeosciences: doi.org/10.1029/2024...
@micaheckert.bsky.social, Sophie Wilkinson, Paul Moore, and @peatofmind.bsky.social [1/9]

The McMaster Ecohydrology presents our 2024 #NobelPeatPrize nominees!

#PeatPaper themes: peatland patterns, public perception, fire and metals, mercury, and fire weather

Winner announced Dec 5th!

Since 2010 the McMaster Ecohydrology Lab has awarded the #NobelPeatPrize to our fave peatland or peat paper of the year. The reviews of 2023 papers starts in 4 weeks. #PeatPaper

Do you have a fave peaty paper from October 2022 to October 2023? #PeatTwitter
ecohydrology.mcmaster.ca/awards.html