Summer Wildfires Emitted More Carbon Dioxide Than India Does in a Year
Wildfires around the world set records for carbon dioxide emissions in July and August, topping India's annual emissions.
Wildfires around the world set records for carbon dioxide emissions in July and August, topping India's annual emissions.
A firefighting helicopter flies past smoke plumes after making a water drop during the Dixie Fire.
Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP (Getty Images)
By Dharna Noor
Yesterday 9:45AM
The world set a scary new record last month: Wildfires around the world pumped out more carbon dioxide than ever before.
Forests on multiple continents went up in smoke, spewing out billions of tons of carbon dioxide, new data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service shows. In July, wildfires emitted nearly 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, a record that was topped by August’s 1.4 gigatons. Between the two months, forest fires emitted an amount of carbon dioxide greater than all of India’s carbon emissions in a year.
The majority of those emissions came from wildfires two regions, western North America and Siberia. Blazes in both regions were fueled by heat waves, drought conditions, and low soil moisture levels—three hallmarks of the climate crisis. In the case of North America, monster fires are still burning in the U.S. and continue to threaten everything from homes and giant sequoias. What’s been most shocking about the fires in the northern hemisphere is, well, everything.
“What stood out as unusual were the number of fires, the size of the areas in which they were burning, their intensity, and also their persistence,” Mark Parrington, senior scientist and wildfire expert at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.
Indeed, the massive fires in northeastern Siberia’s Sakha Republic and were so large and intense that they sent ribbons of smoke to the North Pole in June. Though they started to die down last month, some were still burning in early September.
“It’s a similar story in North America, parts of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and California, which have been experiencing large wildfires since the end of June and beginning of July and are still ongoing,” Parrington said. Northern California’s Dixie Fire, for instance, is the largest single fire in state history, burning down nearly 1 million acres. While fires in the West and Siberia are the two biggest sources of emissions, destructive blazes have hit the Mediterranean region hard from Portugal to Turkey to Syria.
It’s impossible to talk about these fires without talking about climate change. Hot, dry weather is becoming more common and can lead to megafires like those that have enveloped the northern hemisphere this year—and other recent years for that matter. The emissions from these fires, including some that burned through forests that corporations had bought to offset their emissions, will worsen the climate crisis and up the risk of even more damaging blazes to come.
Forest managers urgently need to adapt to avoid even more catastrophic losses. That means considering more managed, low-intensity burns to thin out brush that allows fires to spread and looking at other outside-the-box solutions. Any serious plan to control wildfires must also include phasing out fossil fuels use. By getting serious ending carbon emissions, we can help break the cycle we’re currently locked in.
Yesterday 9:45AM
The world set a scary new record last month: Wildfires around the world pumped out more carbon dioxide than ever before.
Forests on multiple continents went up in smoke, spewing out billions of tons of carbon dioxide, new data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service shows. In July, wildfires emitted nearly 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, a record that was topped by August’s 1.4 gigatons. Between the two months, forest fires emitted an amount of carbon dioxide greater than all of India’s carbon emissions in a year.
The majority of those emissions came from wildfires two regions, western North America and Siberia. Blazes in both regions were fueled by heat waves, drought conditions, and low soil moisture levels—three hallmarks of the climate crisis. In the case of North America, monster fires are still burning in the U.S. and continue to threaten everything from homes and giant sequoias. What’s been most shocking about the fires in the northern hemisphere is, well, everything.
“What stood out as unusual were the number of fires, the size of the areas in which they were burning, their intensity, and also their persistence,” Mark Parrington, senior scientist and wildfire expert at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.
Indeed, the massive fires in northeastern Siberia’s Sakha Republic and were so large and intense that they sent ribbons of smoke to the North Pole in June. Though they started to die down last month, some were still burning in early September.
“It’s a similar story in North America, parts of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and California, which have been experiencing large wildfires since the end of June and beginning of July and are still ongoing,” Parrington said. Northern California’s Dixie Fire, for instance, is the largest single fire in state history, burning down nearly 1 million acres. While fires in the West and Siberia are the two biggest sources of emissions, destructive blazes have hit the Mediterranean region hard from Portugal to Turkey to Syria.
It’s impossible to talk about these fires without talking about climate change. Hot, dry weather is becoming more common and can lead to megafires like those that have enveloped the northern hemisphere this year—and other recent years for that matter. The emissions from these fires, including some that burned through forests that corporations had bought to offset their emissions, will worsen the climate crisis and up the risk of even more damaging blazes to come.
Forest managers urgently need to adapt to avoid even more catastrophic losses. That means considering more managed, low-intensity burns to thin out brush that allows fires to spread and looking at other outside-the-box solutions. Any serious plan to control wildfires must also include phasing out fossil fuels use. By getting serious ending carbon emissions, we can help break the cycle we’re currently locked in.
Northern Hemisphere summer wildfires emit record amount of CO2
Blazes in North America and the Mediterranean prompt spike in planet-warming emissions, EU’s Earth monitoring service says.
Heatwaves, drought conditions, and reduced soil moisture amplified by global warming have contributed to recent unprecedented fires [File: Nikolas Economou/Reuters]
22 Sep 2021
Wildfires in Siberia, North America and around the Mediterranean caused record levels of planet-warming CO2 emissions this summer, the EU’s Earth monitoring service says.
Globally, forests going up in flames emitted more than 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to India’s annual emissions from all sources – in July and August alone, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported on Tuesday.
22 Sep 2021
Wildfires in Siberia, North America and around the Mediterranean caused record levels of planet-warming CO2 emissions this summer, the EU’s Earth monitoring service says.
Globally, forests going up in flames emitted more than 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to India’s annual emissions from all sources – in July and August alone, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported on Tuesday.
More than half of CO2 emissions from wildfires in July came from North America and Siberia.Heatwaves, drought conditions, and reduced soil moisture amplified by global warming have contributed to unprecedented fires in three continents.
Even the Arctic Circle was on fire, releasing some 66 million tonnes of CO2 from June through August, with nearly a billion tonnes from Russia as a whole over the same period.
“What stood out as unusual were the number of fires, the size of the area in which they were burning, their intensity, and also their persistence,” said Mark Parrington, senior scientist and wildfire expert at CAMS.
Fires started raging across northeastern Siberia in June and only started to abate in late August and early September, the satellite-based monitoring service reported.
Emissions for the region from June through August were nearly double compared with the year before.
“What stood out as unusual were the number of fires, the size of the area in which they were burning, their intensity, and also their persistence,” said Mark Parrington, senior scientist and wildfire expert at CAMS.
Fires started raging across northeastern Siberia in June and only started to abate in late August and early September, the satellite-based monitoring service reported.
Emissions for the region from June through August were nearly double compared with the year before.
Burnable area doubled
While satellite images do not reveal how these fires start, many of the blazes early in the summer are thought to have been caused by “zombie” fires that smoulder through the winter and then reignite.
In the western United States and Canada’s British Columbia – which saw record temperatures nearing 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) – fires ravaged huge swaths of forest.
Massive plumes of smoke from Siberia and North America moved across the Atlantic, reaching Britain and parts of Europe in August.
Nations along the Mediterranean rim, meanwhile, saw uncontrolled wildfires of their own, made worse by persistent heatwaves.
Daily fire intensity for Turkey reached the highest levels ever recorded in the nearly 20-year dataset. Other countries scorched by out-of-control blazes included Greece, Italy, Albania, North Macedonia, Algeria and Tunisia.
Fires hit Spain and Portugal in August.
Rising temperatures and increased dryness due to changing rainfall patterns create ideal conditions for bush or forest fires.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported that the five-year period to 2020 was “unprecedented” for fires, especially in Europe and North America.
“Globally, increases in temperature and aridity have increased the length of fire seasons and doubled potential burnable area,” the UN’s IPCC climate science advisory panel concluded in a draft report obtained by AFP.
SOURCE: AFP
Global wildfire carbon dioxide emissions at record high, data shows
Figures from EU monitoring service for August are highest since it began measurements in 2003
Figures from EU monitoring service for August are highest since it began measurements in 2003
A volunteer works to extinguish a wildfire near the town of Revda in Russia last month.
Photograph: Alexey Malgavko/Reuters
Jonathan Watts
@jonathanwatts
Tue 21 Sep 2021
August was another record month for global wildfire emissions, according to new satellite data that highlights how tinderbox conditions are widening across the world as a result of the climate crisis.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service of the EU found that burning forests released 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide last month, mostly in North America and Siberia. This was the highest since the organisation began measurements in 2003.
After a July record of 1258.8 megatonnes the previous month, scientists are concerned that areas with dense vegetation are becoming a source rather than a sink of greenhouse gases.
The increased flammability was evident across swathes of the northern hemisphere. Russia, which is home to the world’s biggest forest, was by far the worst affected as infernos in the taiga forests of Siberia pumped 970 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere between June and August – more than all the forests in the rest of the world put together.
“The number of fires, their persistence and intensity were remarkable,” Copernicus said.
Photograph: Alexey Malgavko/Reuters
Jonathan Watts
@jonathanwatts
Tue 21 Sep 2021
August was another record month for global wildfire emissions, according to new satellite data that highlights how tinderbox conditions are widening across the world as a result of the climate crisis.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service of the EU found that burning forests released 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide last month, mostly in North America and Siberia. This was the highest since the organisation began measurements in 2003.
After a July record of 1258.8 megatonnes the previous month, scientists are concerned that areas with dense vegetation are becoming a source rather than a sink of greenhouse gases.
The increased flammability was evident across swathes of the northern hemisphere. Russia, which is home to the world’s biggest forest, was by far the worst affected as infernos in the taiga forests of Siberia pumped 970 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere between June and August – more than all the forests in the rest of the world put together.
“The number of fires, their persistence and intensity were remarkable,” Copernicus said.
A worker helps battle a wildfire in the taiga forests of Siberia.
Photograph: Russian Aerial Forest Protection/Avialesookhrana/Tass
Summer fires are not unusual in the Sakha Republic of north-eastern Siberia, but 2021 was exceptional. Emissions during this peak season were more than double the previous record. Blazes are burning longer than usual and with more ferocity.
In July, choking smoke gave the city of Yakutsk, which is in the midst of the Siberian fire region, the most polluted air in the world. This followed measurements of unusually high temperatures and lower than normal soil moisture.
Fires are also increasingly common in the Arctic Circle. This far northern region, which has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, released 66m tonnes of CO2 this summer.
It was a similar story in North America, which has sweltered through deadly heat and unusually long dry spells.
In northern California, the Dixie Fire is now one of the biggest ever recorded in the state’s history, having turned almost a million acres to ash. Several Canadian provinces have also been scorched by unusually intense fires.
Summer fires are not unusual in the Sakha Republic of north-eastern Siberia, but 2021 was exceptional. Emissions during this peak season were more than double the previous record. Blazes are burning longer than usual and with more ferocity.
In July, choking smoke gave the city of Yakutsk, which is in the midst of the Siberian fire region, the most polluted air in the world. This followed measurements of unusually high temperatures and lower than normal soil moisture.
Fires are also increasingly common in the Arctic Circle. This far northern region, which has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, released 66m tonnes of CO2 this summer.
It was a similar story in North America, which has sweltered through deadly heat and unusually long dry spells.
In northern California, the Dixie Fire is now one of the biggest ever recorded in the state’s history, having turned almost a million acres to ash. Several Canadian provinces have also been scorched by unusually intense fires.
A long exposure photo showing flames from the Dixie Fire in Genesee, California, US. Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP
Europe has far less forest cover, but record high and prolonged heat has resulted in devastating fires in Turkey, which were four times more intense than anything previously registered. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania, North Macedonia, Algeria, and Tunisia have also battled with huge blazes that sent smoke plumes billowing across the Mediterranean.
Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus said this year was not a one-off but a sign of a worsening trend caused by human-driven climate change. “It is concerning that drier and hotter regional conditions, brought about by global warming, increase the flammability and fire risk of vegetation. This has led to very intense and fast-developing fires. While the local weather conditions play a role in the actual fire behaviour, climate change is helping provide the ideal environments for wildfires.”
Europe has far less forest cover, but record high and prolonged heat has resulted in devastating fires in Turkey, which were four times more intense than anything previously registered. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania, North Macedonia, Algeria, and Tunisia have also battled with huge blazes that sent smoke plumes billowing across the Mediterranean.
Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus said this year was not a one-off but a sign of a worsening trend caused by human-driven climate change. “It is concerning that drier and hotter regional conditions, brought about by global warming, increase the flammability and fire risk of vegetation. This has led to very intense and fast-developing fires. While the local weather conditions play a role in the actual fire behaviour, climate change is helping provide the ideal environments for wildfires.”
No comments:
Post a Comment