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The Arctic is burning like never before — and that’s bad news for climate change

Fires are releasing record levels of carbon dioxide, partly because they are burning ancient peatlands that have been a carbon sink.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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Wildfires blazed along the Arctic Circle this summer, incinerating tundra, blanketing Siberian cities in smoke and capping the second extraordinary fire season in a row. By the time the fire season waned at the end of last month, the blazes had emitted a record 244 megatonnes of carbon dioxide — that’s 35% more than last year, which also set records. One culprit, scientists say, could be peatlands that are burning as the top of the world melts.

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Nature 585, 336-337 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02568-y

References

  1. Hugelius, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 20438–20446 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Sherstyukov, B. G. & Sherstyukov, A. B. Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol. 39, 292–301 (2014).

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