Unprecedented Scottish megafire leads to widespread peat carbon losses
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Drier and warmer climates have allowed fires to increasingly burn carbon-dense peatland ecosystems. Here, we document the first megafire in the United Kingdom, which spread rapidly and burned severely across peatlands in Scotland with anomalously low soil moisture, emitting 39,338MgC (25,250–64,565MgC). Peat combustion contributed 85% of total emissions, suggesting drier climates increase fire emissions from peat, which are functionally irrecoverable on end-of-century timescales most relevant to climate change mitigation.
