Siberia, an area the size of Molise burns in June.Copernicus:«In the Arctic the greatest increase in fires in the last 20 years»

Drought and above average temperatures have created the perfect conditions for the birth of spontaneous fires

At least 460 thousand hectares of land were affected by the fires that hit the Arctic region of Russia, in the far north-east of Siberia, in June.This is an area slightly larger than Molise, which went up in smoke due to the perfect conditions for the birth of spontaneous fires fueled by above-average temperatures and the drought that has affected the area in recent months.This was made known by the Copernicus monitoring service.According to what satellites have detected, the amount of carbon dioxide released in fires in the Arctic - 6.8 million tons - has already reached the top three of the last 20 years, despite the fact that the astronomical summer began just eight days ago.The records are those of 2020, with 16.3 million tons, and 2019, with 13.8 million.

«A point of no return»

“This is the third time since 2019 that we have observed significant fires in the Arctic and shows that this north-eastern region of the Arctic has seen the largest increase in extreme fires in the last two decades,” commented Mark Parrington, Senior Scientist at the Service. Copernicus atmospheric monitoring.As the experts of the European Union program explain, the fires that concern the article are particularly emblematic of the state of health of the climate across the planet.Once extremely rare, their frequency has increased over the years, leading scientists to fear that the Arctic region may be about to pass the point of no return, beyond which, even by halting new greenhouse gas emissions, it will be virtually impossible to prevent degradation. of the natural environment and the formation of new fires, melting of the permafrost and release of methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.