The World Daily
Record amount of CO2 released in Summer Wildfires

A wildfire burns in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest, California. Photo:AFP

 

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | SEPTEMBER 22nd 2021

 

The wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere were noted to have released record amounts of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) this summer, according to satellite data provided by the European Union’s Earth monitoring service.

2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 were emitted globally in the July and August of this year, due to wildfires all around the world, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). This rather heavy amount is the equivalent of the country of India’s total emissions per year, covering all of the CO2 sources.

“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 the senior scientist and wildfire expert at CAMS, Mark Parrington.

It was reported that in July, over half of the total major CO2 emissions originating from uncontrolled wildfires had come from Siberia and North America. The Siberian wildfires were particularly bad, having started in June and only beginning to calm down around August and in early September. Comparing the time periods to last year, the emission rates for the region had also been nearly doubled.

66 million tonnes of CO2 from June through August had also been released from the burning Arctic Circle. Over that same period of time, nearly a billion tonnes of the greenhouse gas had been reportedly emitted from Russia overall.

“Globally, increases in temperature and aridity have increased the length of fire seasons and doubled potential burnable area,” concluded the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in a draft report.

The ideal conditions for these kinds of fires is created with a combination of dryness, higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. The five year period of time that led up to 2020 had been particularly bad in terms of wildfires, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

 

Most fires all across the world are started by humans, however with the ideal fire conditions brought about by a changing climate, their likelihood in growing out of control, and their difficulty in being put out, are greatly exacerbated.

“Since mid to late June, we’ve seen – particularly in the Sakah Republic area of Russia – really large areas of fires that burnt persistently through July into August,” said Parrington. “For North America, we saw fires in British Columbia in June, which were then joined in July by really persistent fires in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California.”

He added that: “One of the common things between these fires, and the ones in the Mediterranean, is that they all occur where the land is drier and surface air temperatures are warmer. There seems to be a clear link showing that when it’s drier and hotter, that’s where these fires occur more.”

In July and August, thousands of people had been affected by the fires in North America, especially in the Western regions where intense heatwaves had been reported. In Algeria, the fires had even been lethal, with 90 people having lost their lives – 33 of which were military officers who were battling the flames. 

 

By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2021 

Source: Al Jazeera, The Independent  

 

 

Categories:
Environment
Tags:
WildfiresCarbon EmissionEnvironmentGlobal Warming