SCIENCE sciencemag.org 4 SEPTEMBER 2020 • VOL 369 ISSUE 6508 117 1PHOTO: © JULIA PETRENKO/GREENPEACE
Editorial Expression
of Concern
On 10 July, Science published the Report
“Proton transport enabled by a field-
induced metallic state in a semiconductor
heterostructure” by Y. Wu et al. ( 1 ). After
publication, we received emails from two
independent sources alleging that figures
S9B and S10 in this paper appeared to be
manipulated copies of figures previously
published by the same corresponding
author, Bin Zhu, in two papers ( 2 , 3 ) that
reported different fuel cell compositions.
The allegations were subsequently posted
to PubPeer ( 4 ). While we await clarifica-
tion from investigations by the authors’
institutions, we are notifying readers of our
concern about the paper’s data integrity.
H. Holden Thorp
Editor-in-ChiefREFERENCES AND NOTES- Y. Wu et al., Science 369 , 184 (2020).
- L. Liu et al., Int. J. Hydrogen Energ. 43 , 12739 (2018).
- R. Xu et al., Int. J. Hydrogen Energ. 42 , 17495 (2017).
- PubPeer, “Comments on ‘Proton transport enabled by
a field-induced metallic state in a semiconductor het-
erostructure,’ Science (2020)”; https://pubpeer.com/
publications/B4C761167701BD73360EFEDC38FE0C.
10.1126/science.abe4308
The dangers of Arctic
zombie wildfires
In June, blistering wildfires raged within
the Arctic Circle for the second successive
year ( 1 ). Posing no direct threats to human
life or property, Arctic wildfires are usu-
ally allowed to burn unabated. They can
then smolder beneath the Arctic Circle’s
blanket peat through winter and reignite
during early spring when temperatures
rise. Scientists attribute this year’s blazes
in the northern polar region to persistent
remnants of wildfires from the summer of
2019 ( 2 ). In addition to changing eco-
systems within the scorched perimeter,
these so-called Arctic zombie wildfires
( 2 ) amplify climate warming by releasing
carbon from soil and affect human health
around the planet by releasing particu-
lates into the air ( 3 ). To address these fires
and their interaction with other compo-
nents of the Earth system, researchers
must collect more data and update models
to account for these feedbacks. It is cru-
cial to understand what conditions causeEdited by Jennifer SillsLETTERS
the fires as well as the effects of the fires
on the environment.
The growing regularity of Arctic zom-
bie wildfires demonstrates the risks of
compound climate events ( 4 ) under global
warming. These wildfires shed light on
the domino effects of coinciding, multiple,
interdependent natural hazards ( 5 ) within
the Arctic Circle, particularly extreme
drought and persistent heat waves. Climatic
drivers of wildfires within the Arctic
Circle—including temperature ( 6 ), dry air-
flow ( 7 ), lightning frequency ( 8 ), and wind
speed ( 9 )—are increasing, making wildfire
recurrence likely ( 10 ). Yet our knowledge
about the fires is largely limited to the past
2 years ( 3 ). We lack sufficient data about
the location and size of roasting areas,
the amount of atmospheric heat-trapping
greenhouse gas (CO 2 and CH 4 ) emissions,
the paths of the smoke plumes, and the sites
of fire-related black carbon deposition ( 3 ).
To better understand and manage these
fires, researchers should comprehensively
assess the cascading risks ( 4 ) that lead to
their ignition and endurance, such as soot
impacts on snow and ice covers. Theoretical
wildfire models should be updated to
explain swelling Arctic blazes and consider
changes in their environmental drivers
(such as peat fuel) and climatic drivers
(such as extreme winds). Researchers
should identify and assess both direct and
indirect environmental and socioeconomic
impacts of the fires and determine the
global challenges for humanity that are
likely to result, including the future climate
risk that compound events related to thefires could induce. Immediate actions and
sustained efforts at national and interna-
tional scales are needed to mitigate Arctic
zombie wildfires through global multidisci-
plinary collaboration.
Masoud Irannezhad^1 , Junguo Liu^1 *, B e h z a d
Ahmadi^2 , Deliang Chen^3(^1) School of Environmental Science and
Engineering, Southern University of Science and
Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.^2 Center for
Water-Energy Efficiency, University of California,
Davis, CA 95616, USA.^3 Regional Climate Group,
Department of Earth Sciences, University of
Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- S. Sengupta, “Intense Arctic wildfires set a pollution
r e c o r d ,” The New York Times (2020). - A. Freedman, “‘Zombie fires’ are erupting in Alaska and
likely Siberia, signaling severe Arctic fire season may lie
ahead,” The Washington Post (2020). - M.-J. Viñas, “NASA studies how Arctic wildfires change
the world,” NASA’s Earth Science News Team (2019). - J. Zscheischler et al., Nat. Clim. Change 8 , 469 (2018).
- A. AghaKouchak et al., Nature 561 , 458 (2018).
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
“Climate change 2013: The physical science basis,” T.F.
Stocker et al., Eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2013). - C. L. Archer, K. Caldeira, Geophys. Res. Lett. 35 , L08803
(2008). - S. Veraverbeke et al., Nat. Clim. Change 7 , 529 (2017).
- A. Devis et al., Environ. Res. Lett. 13 , 064012 (2018).
- Y. Pan et al., Science 333 , 988 (2011).
10.1126/science.abe1739
Support transgender
scientists post–COVID-19
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic is magnifying existing oppression
( 1 – 3 ), sparking discussions among scientists
about the post-pandemic community we
want to build. Transgender scientists shouldFires burning in Siberia are transforming the landscape and contributing to climate change.Published by AAAS