Huge wildfires are continuing to burn across the Arctic, and have now released more carbon dioxide in 2019 than in any year since satellite records began nearly two decades ago.
Temperatures have been well above average in the region, and fires erupted in boreal peatlands across Siberia around 9 June. Normally the fires would last a few days, but this year some vegetation and peatland has been ablaze for a month and a half.
The result is the rapid release of more than 121 megatonnes of carbon dioxide 鈥� more than Belgium鈥檚 annual emissions 鈥� eclipsing the previous record of 110mt of CO2 for the whole of 2004. 鈥淏ased on our 17 years of data, this is unusual, particularly for northern Siberia,鈥� says Mark Parrington of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
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The wildfire season in the Arctic usually runs from the start of July to the end of August, so Parrington notes the burning could continue for several more weeks yet, emitting even more carbon dioxide. Fires are not unknown in the region, but the duration of these ones are particularly unusual.
鈥淭he Arctic has historically experienced fire, and the area in Russia that is burning does have a history of fire,鈥� says Merritt Turetsky at University of Guelph. 鈥淏ut these Arctic fires are expected to occur more severely and more frequently in the future, and the CO2 measurements are a demonstration of how this will influence regional and potentially global emissions.鈥�
Read more: The UK has already had more wildfires in 2019 than any year on record
While the fires were initially clustered around the north of the Sakha Republic in Russia, more fires have appeared elsewhere in Russia, along with Alaska and even the south-west of Greenland. 鈥淏oreal Alaska is having a severe fire year and my guess is that fires will start affecting western Canada,鈥� says Turetsky.
[UPDATE]
Confirmation that some of these [red dots = Jun/Jul 2019 fires] are burning on known peatlands [shaded green] in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, thanks to raw data from and PEATMAP. ()
More analysis to follow.鈥� Dr Thomas Smith ?? (@DrTELS)
Ruth Mottram at the Danish Meteorological Institute says the whole of Greenland has been experiencing 鈥渟omething exceptional鈥� in high ground temperatures, which may be a contributing factor to fires, along with low rainfall.
There is no reason why more fires couldn鈥檛 occur in the next few weeks and next year, says Parrington. 鈥淚f the permafrost is melting and there鈥檚 more peat and fuel available, it鈥檚 dry enough, and there鈥檚 lightning, sure you would expect to see something [again].鈥�
Read more: Unprecedented Arctic megafires are releasing a huge amount of CO2
Many of the Arctic fires are on peatland and could have been started by lightning strikes, judging from the type of clouds before the fires started and the colour of the smoke, an analysis by Thomas Smith of the London School of Economics found.
As well as bad news for efforts to tackle climate change, smoke from the fires has an immediate impact on human health. 鈥淭he air quality in parts of Alaska are very poor and this is a direct result of the fires. People with respiration issues such as asthma are particularly vulnerable,鈥� says Turetsky.
