Title: Three-fourths of Carbon Emissions from 2023 Record-Breaking Wildfires in Canada Traced to Soil and Peat Combustion
Citation: Zhong, Z. (2026). Dataset and Code for: Three-fourths of Carbon Emissions from 2023 Record-Breaking Wildfires in Canada Traced to Soil and Peat Combustion [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19335559
Study Site: Canada
Purpose: The 2023 wildfires in Canada burned a record-breaking area, contributing 23% of global wildfire carbon emissions that year. Yet, the relative contributions from live biomass versus soil and peat organic matter combustion were previously unknown.
Abstract: This repository contains carbon emission maps and the analysis scripts supporting the study 'Three-fourths of Carbon Emissions from 2023 Record-Breaking Wildfires in Canada Traced to Soil and Peat Combustion,' submitted to Geophysical Research Letters.
Specifically, this dataset includes three files:
AGC_emissions_mosaic.tif: The Aboveground Carbon (AGC) emission density map.
SOC_emissions_mosaic.tif: The Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) emission density map.
Scripts.zip: A compressed file containing the R and Python analysis scripts.
Supplemental Information Summary:
Research:
Further Info: Zhong, Z., Ottah, C., Rogers, B. M., Veraverbeke, S., Potter, S., Kurz, W. A., et al. (2026). Three-fourths of carbon emissions from 2023 record-breaking wildfires in Canada traced to soil and peat combustion. Geophysical Research Letters, 53, e2026GL123393. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL123393
Status: Complete
Keywords:
mapping,
vegetation,
carbon dioxide,
soil carbon,
wildfire,
Geographical coordinates: North: 83.15, South: 41.909 East: -52.619 West: -141.010
Bounding Temporal Extent: Start Date: 2023-05-01, End
Date: 2023-11-30
