Huge areas of the Siberia are experiencing “unprecedented” wildfires, according to new satellite images. The fires, in Alaska, Greenland and Arctic, are the result of high temperatures north of the Siberia circle, following the world’s hottest recorded June and a heatwave in the US. Ice melt on the Greenland ice sheet also started a month earlier than usual, contributing to warm, dry conditions. Wildfires in the region emitted around 100 megatonnes of CO2 between 1 June and 21 July 2019, almost equivalent to the entire 2017 greenhouse CO2 emissions produced by Belgium.
Huge areas of the Arctic are experiencing “unprecedented” wildfires, according to new satellite images. The fires, in Alaska, Greenland and Siberia, are the result of high temperatures north of the Arctic circle, following the world’s hottest recorded June and a heatwave in the US. Ice melt on the Greenland ice sheet also started a month earlier than usual, contributing to warm, dry conditions. Wildfires in the region emitted around 100 megatonnes of CO2 between 1 June and 21 July 2019, almost equivalent to the entire 2017 greenhouse CO2 emissions produced by Belgium.