Arctic Fires In 2020: Deadly Arctic Wildfires Are Causing Record-Breaking Pollution

Forest wildfires are one of the most destructive natural calamities as they not only destroy green patches that help us stabilise pollution levels, but also cause more pollution and loss of habitat for creatures living in the forests.

And now, researchers have discovered that the Arctic wildfires in northern hemisphere of earth has released the most amount of pollution in nearly 18 years.

Reuters by Maxar Technologies

This is according to the European Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. which said that the Arctic region experienced deadly wildfires throughout the month of June and this has resulted in the release of around 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

To put things in perspective, pollution from Arctic fires is at least nine times more than what the area recorded in the year 2018 and the highest recorded since the year 2003. The last time it was this high was when the wildfires were the worst ever recorded, and these Arctic fires have even been visible from space.

Arctic fires in 2020

Heck, the emissions were higher than what the entire country of Norway produces in a year -- and this is an oil-producing nation, as highlighted by a New York Times report.

ESA

This year we have already seen parts of the Arctic show record-breaking heat -- in the town of Verkhoyanks in Siberia that hit 38 degrees Celsius in the month of June -- a region that is known to have freezing cold temperatures.

These Arctic wildfires only goes to show the intensity at which one of the coldest regions of our planet is warming up.

Researchers claim that this warming is occurring at a rate of at least two and a half times faster than the global average rate.

Arctic wildfires, climate change and global warming

Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said in a statement to the Washington Post, "We always expected the Arctic to change faster than the rest of the globe. But I don't think anyone expected the changes to happen as fast as we are seeing them happen."

Reuters

Mark Parrington, a fire specialist at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which issued the report, said in a statement, ¡°Higher temperatures and drier surface conditions are providing ideal conditions for these fires to burn and to persist for so long over such a large area.¡±