Satellite Images Ignite Alarm Over 'Unprecedented' Scale and Planet-Heating Emissions of Raging Arctic Wildfires
On the heels of several studies revealing that last month was the hottest June in recorded history, new satellite images show that wildfires in the Arctic Circle this month have reached what multiple experts have called “unprecedented” levels—elevating concerns about the planet-heating emissions produced by the blazes.
Satellite photography expert Pierre Markuse has processed and posted to Flickr and Twitter images of recent fires raging across Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia. Monday, he published the latest batch, featuring images captured on July 21.
Alaska, as Common Dreams reported earlier this month, is enduring an unusual heat wave that experts connected to the climate crisis. On July 4, the temperature in Anchorage soared to 90°F, an all-time record. This year alone, wildfires have already destroyed more than 1.6 million acres of land in the state.
Reporting on Markuse’s new images Monday, The Independent noted that “the pictures show forest fires and burning peat.”
In a piece last week that highlighted some of Markuse’s earlier images, Earther explained that the Siberian peatlands are “normally frozen or soggy.” However, “there are ample signs the peat dried out due to the heat and is ablaze. That’s worrisome since peat is rich in carbon, and fires can release it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.”
Both the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), in statements earlier this month, described the Arctic Circle fires as “unprecedented.” CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington, an expert on wildfire emissions, repeated the term in a series of tweets Monday.
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