Water balance of a burned and unburned forested boreal peatland

Abstract We examined the water balance of a forested ombrotrophic peatland and adjacent burned peatland in the boreal plain of western Canada over a 3‐year period. Complete combustion of foliage and fine branches dramatically increased shortwave radiation inputs to the peat surface while halting all tree transpiration at the burned site. End‐of‐winter snowpack was 7–25% higher at the burned site likely due to decreased ablation from the tree …