Wildfires in the Arctic occur frequently and are difficult to extinguish. What's going on?

The Arctic lowlands of Russia's Far East are a vast and freezing land, covered with permafrost and peatlands, covered with tundra meadows dotted with clear lakes and winding rivers. Wolves, foxes and bears wander here, and semi-nomadic indigenous people have been raising reindeer and horses on the land. However, wildfires often occur here.

Wildfires rage across the Arctic

In recent years, fires have spread north and into the Arctic. Most wildfires in the Arctic Circle are mainly concentrated in Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia. From May to June alone, 170 places in the region were hit by wildfires, damaging 2.5 million hectares of forest. Other regions of Siberia and the Far East, such as Buryatia, Post-Baikal and Khabarovsk, also continue to be affected by wildfires.

In July, as the northern wildfire season fully arrived, Siberian wildfires raged and large amounts of smoke filled the entire region. On July 10, a fire broke out in the Saha Abiski area. On July 18, The Russian Federation Aviation Forest Protection Agency released a report stating that 69 fires occurred in the Saha region, covering an area of more than 270,000 hectares. Studies have pointed out that compared with 2000 to 2010, the number of fires in the Sakha region tripled from 2010 to 2020, and the total area of fires more than doubled, with the western and central Siberia being the most serious.

As of July 28, there were 230 forest fires in Russia, with an area of 789811 hectares.

In addition to Russia, the threat of wildfires in polar regions such as Canada, the United States, Norway, and Sweden is also becoming increasingly serious. As of July 16, wildfires in Alaska, the United States, have burned nearly 250,000 hectares of land, including one that forced the closure of Denali National Park.

The "brewer" of frequent wildfires

The Arctic is warming at about four times the rate of global warming. The global average temperature has risen by at least 1.1 ° C above pre-industrial levels, while the average temperature in the Arctic is about 3 ° C higher than in 1980.

Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service show that temperatures in the Arctic have continued to be abnormally high since early June. From June 15 to July 13, soil moisture in eastern Russia and western North America was well below average.

Research shows that climate change exacerbates high temperatures, droughts, lightning and strong winds, making fire seasons hotter, drier and longer lasting, making wildfires more severe. Taking northern Canada as an example, its climate is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world. In recent summers, the highest temperatures in Canada and the Siberian Arctic have exceeded 38 ° C. This means that the fire danger period in these areas is longer, and some wildfires may even turn underground and turn overground again next spring after overwinter.

Rapid warming in the Arctic has led to more frequent lightning, further increasing the likelihood of wildfires. Studies have found that since 1975, fires caused by lightning in Alaska and Northwest Canada have more than doubled.

In addition, after the Arctic warms, the temperature difference between it and low latitudes decreases, causing the polar jet stream to slow down. The polar jet stream often "stays" in one place, causing the temperature in the area to be abnormally high and blocking the low-pressure system that brings clouds and rainfall., triggering a strong heat wave, which in turn leads to more wildfires. It should be noted that the increase in wildfires in Canada, Russia and other places is not only affected by the warming of the Arctic, but also by the warming of mid-latitude oceans such as the North Atlantic.

In the next few years, rising temperatures, frequent lightning and heat waves may further deteriorate, triggering more wildfires in the Arctic. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of wildfires in the Arctic and around the world could increase by a third.

After the wildfires raged,

The indigenous people of the Saha region have lived here for hundreds of years, living in small scattered tribes. Destructive wildfires can cut links between tribes, destroy hunting grounds and berry-picking areas, and disrupt reindeer migration routes.

Arctic wildfires can have a catastrophic impact on the natural ecological environment-forests and grasslands are burned, wild animals are killed, including many endangered species, and biodiversity is seriously threatened, which will have a profound impact on the entire ecosystem.

Mountain fires quickly consume carbon reserves in vegetation and soil, and can also degrade forest ecosystems into shrubs or grasslands, significantly reducing their carbon sink capacity. While vegetation is burned, it also releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which in turn will exacerbate climate change. Smoke from fires may hinder Arctic glaciers from reflecting solar radiation, forcing land and oceans to absorb more heat, creating a vicious cycle.

According to data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, carbon emissions from fires in the Arctic Circle in June and July 2024 are much higher than the same period in the past few decades.

However, the most worrying thing than this greenhouse gas emission is the carbon stored under the region's permafrost. Scientists estimate that the Arctic permafrost contains about 1.7 trillion tons of carbon, including methane and carbon dioxide, which is approximately 51 times the carbon emissions released by global fossil fuel burning in 2019.

Wildfires damage vegetation and soil, making permafrost more likely to melt, causing organic matter contained in the soil to decompose and release carbon into the atmosphere. If a large-scale melting of Arctic permafrost is triggered, the release of carbon will be unstoppable.