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Record-Breaking Fires Scorch Arctic

Asher Jones

   WASHINGTON - Wildfires in the Arctic have already released more
   planet-warming carbon dioxide this year than all of last year, with
   smoke plumes from the fires covering an area more than one-third the
   size of Canada, according to new data from the [1]Copernicus Atmosphere
   Monitoring Service (CAMS).

   Emissions from this year's fires break records set only last year. In
   both 2019 and so far in 2020, fires were more numerous, more intense
   and burned for longer than in any year since record keeping began 18
   years ago.

   "We've seen this rapid increase in fire activity in the Arctic Circle"
   in recent years, said Mark Parrington, senior scientist and wildfire
   expert at CAMS. "It's kind of taken everybody by surprise. It's such a
   rapid increase in a very short period of time."

   Although wildfires are a natural part of Arctic ecosystems, they're
   usually "sporadic and short-lived," Parrington said. Unusually hot, dry
   conditions in the Arctic this summer set the stage for larger, more
   intense fires.

   "Fires are taking away the insulating soil layer that's on top of that
   permafrost, and then that permafrost starts to thaw," said Elizabeth
   Hoy, support scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who was not
   involved with the study.

   "When the permafrost starts to thaw, you're releasing more carbon into
   the atmosphere. More carbon in the atmosphere can lead to more warming
   and more fires. So, we call that a positive feedback cycle," she said.

References

   1. https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-reveals-summer-2020s-arctic-wildfires-set-new-emission-records

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