https://globalnews.ca/news/5663184/arctic-fires-co2-sweden/
[links and videos in online article]
‘Unprecedented’ wildfires in the Arctic emitted as much CO2 in June as
Sweden does in a year
By Hannah Jackson
Wildfires in the Arctic last month emitted as much carbon dioxide (CO2)
as all of Sweden does in a year, according to the World Meteorological
Organization.
At a regular United Nations briefing in Geneva on July 12, WMO
spokesperson Clare Nullis said the wildfires in the Arctic since the
start of June are “unprecedented.”
While wildfires are common in the northern hemisphere between the months
of May and October, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS),
which has been tracking the fires, says the latitude and intensity of
the fires, as well as the length of time they have been burning, have
been particularly “unusual.”
“It is unusual to see fires of this scale at such high latitudes in
June,” CAMS senior scientist and wildfires expert Mark Parrington said
in a press release. “But temperatures in the Arctic have been increasing
at a much faster rate than the global average, and warmer conditions
encourage fires to grow and persist once they have been ignited.”
Since the beginning of June, CAMS has tracked more than 100 intense and
long-lived wildfires in the Arctic Circle.
The service says the fires have been the most severe in Alaska and
Siberia, where some have been large enough to cover almost 100,000
football fields.
CAMS says it has registered almost 400 wildfires in Alaska this year,
with new ones igniting every day.
High temperatures and dry conditions
According to CAMS, the extreme wildfire activity can be explained, in
part, by high temperatures and dry conditions.
Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service released earlier this
month showed that June 2019 was the warmest June on record for Europe
and the globe.
In most of the Arctic, the temperature average from July 2018 to June
2019 was “much above” the 1981 to 2010 average, peaking near Alaska.
Meanwhile, in Siberia, the average temperature in parts of the province
where wildfires are raging was almost 10 degrees higher than the 1981 to
2010 average.
Health effects
CAMS says the wildfires in the Arctic are “especially worrisome.”
“Arctic wildfires are especially worrisome as particulate matter is more
likely to settle on icy areas,” the release reads. “This darkens the
ice, leading to sunlight being absorbed rather than reflected, which
could exacerbate global warming.”
And, according to CAMS, wildfires emit different types of pollutants,
many of which can affect human health.
The organization says that while most of the Arctic Circle remains
sparsely populated, humans cannot escape the dangers of the fires
because wind can blow pollution thousands of kilometres away from the
source, affecting air quality around the world.
=====================================
To subscribe, unsubscribe, turn vacation mode on or off,
or carry out other user-actions for this list, visit
https://www.freelists.org/list/keiths-list
Note: new climate change website is now in pre-launch
Visit https://www.10n10.ca/e/index.shtml
