Wildfires

Wildfires in Siberia

Seventeen forest fires have already been reported across 2,000 hectares (for some perspective, that’s about 5,000 acres), and across Siberia last week century-old temperature records were shattered.

Siberian wildfires may seem like a very remote threat to most of the world, but what happens in this region has consequences on a global scale.

Smoke from wildfires in Siberia is often lofted high enough into the atmosphere that it travels across the Pacific Ocean, blanketing the western coast of North America with hazy, hard to breathe air. In 2012, smoke from Siberia caused record ground-level ozone in British Columbia.

Smoke can also drift north from Siberia depositing soot across the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Darker, dirty ice reflects less solar radiation back into space. Ice that absorbs more radiation melts faster and, in turn, less ice in the Arctic can affect weather patterns around the world. When land-based ice melts it also contributes to sea level rise.

Wildfires hasten the thawing of vital permafrost as well. Globally, the trees and frozen soils of the boreal forests lock up an incredible 30 percent of the world’s carbon. But when permafrost melts it releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide and methane — leading many scientist to fear that these ecosystems may switch from being a giant carbon sink to being an unprecedented carbon source.