Large amounts of smoke have been emitted in the past few weeks due to forest fires raging in the Russian Arctic region.
The European Union’s Copernicus atmospheric monitoring service reported Thursday that most fires are burning in northeastern Russia, where vast areas of forests and wild areas were destroyed in the summer of 2021.
Emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from fires reached the third highest level in the Arctic in June over the past two decades.
The Copernicus service indicated that the increase in greenhouse gases is due to much higher temperatures and lower than usual rainfall in the affected area, which is part of the Republic of Yakutia.
Service data showed that temperatures witnessed a rise of up to seven degrees Celsius compared to the average from 1991 to 2020, in addition to severe drought.
Official Russian data reported that there were about 176 forest fires raging in Yakutia today, Thursday, affecting 619 thousand hectares.
Scientists indicated in a recent study that climate change greatly increases the risk of forest fires.
“The polar region is warming by far more than the planet as a whole,” said Mark Barrington, a Copernicus Service scientist. “As a result, conditions in the high northern ranges are becoming more conducive to wildfires.”
This also applies to Canada, where major wildfires will occur in 2023.
According to Jill Whitman, a professor at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, the growing number of forest fires is a clear warning sign.
She added, “What happens in the polar region does not stay there. Change in the polar region amplifies the risks globally for all of us. These fires are a wake-up call for urgent action.”
The study showed that smoke reduces air quality. If it settles on cold or ice, it can cause it to melt faster, and forest fires cause the emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide that are harmful to the climate.
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