The Eastern Siberian landscape does not normally resemble hell. This year, however, the region is on fire
landscape does not normally resemble hell. In winter it is blanketed in snow; in summer, its forests are lush and its wetlands soggy. This year, however, the region is on fire, as are large parts of the Arctic Circle.
So far, hundreds of above-ground fires have been recorded by satellites, covering hundreds of thousands of hectares in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, from Eastern Siberia to Alaska and Greenland. The European Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service estimates that fires within the Arctic Circle have produced more than 100m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or roughly what Belgium emits in a year. That is a lot.
This in turn sets in motion positive feedback loops which are not accounted for in the climate projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate researchers do cite the possibility that global warming will thaw Arctic permafrost, releasing large amounts of stored greenhouse gases. But if fires in the region become more common, that could have even bigger consequences.
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