European observers: Siberian taiga is burning at a record pace today

For already several weeks now the forests have been burning in Siberia. In the east the hot, dry, windy weather persists. Since May, the beginning of the fire season, 60 megatons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere. 6 megatons more than in the same period last year, ecologists of the European Environmental Monitoring Service Copernicus said. This is a record value for all 18 years of the service. Chukotka and Yakutia suffered especially from fires. Forests burned in Alaska, but their contribution to such emissions was small. Climatologists also recorded temperature records: the average temperature in some regions of Siberia was exceeded by 10 degrees. On June 21, an absolute record was recorded in the Northeast of the country - the thermometer showed 37 degrees. In the Arctic, average temperatures were 5 degrees above normal. This year has already exceeded the temperature record of 2018 and 2019 by more than 1 degree. Carlo Buentempo, the director of the Climate Change Service at the European Center for Medium-Range Forecasts, said: “Of particular concern is the fact that the Arctic is warming faster than other regions and parts of the world.”

Scientists think that constantly blowing strong winds are to blame for forest fires. In addition, this year the snow cover was very small, so soil moisture is also at a minimum level. However, drought is observed everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. And although forests in Siberia burn every year, this year's situation is especially tense. At the beginning of July, 2 million hectares, or 20 thousand square kilometers, were already burning, which is more than the territory of Luxembourg. In seven areas, authorities declared a state of emergency. But only those fires that threaten people are put out. In deserted areas, forests are burned out, and they are not put out because of saving money and money. According to Greenpeace, 8 million hectares of forest have burned out in Russia since the beginning of the year. For the comparison: the territory of Cyprus is 9 million hectares.