Arctic Wildfires Rage in Siberia, Producing Record CO2 Emissions

The charred remnants of a wildfire in Russia in 2010. (Wikimedia Commons)

While wildfires have devastated the West Coast of the United States the past few weeks, equally destructive fires have plagued the Arctic Circle since mid-June. The fires have produced half a billion tons of CO2, the highest levels in recorded history. According to Greenpeace Russia, the wildfires had burned an area larger than the size of Greece as of July.

The wildfires, which began during a heatwave that peaked at 86° F, have primarily affected Siberia, including the region’s third-largest city Krasnoyarsk as well as the Transbaikal Territory.

Wildfire experts in the area believe that coronavirus lockdown measures inadvertently exacerbated the conflagrations. “Many Russians flocked to their country homes during a six-week national nonworking period intended to stunt the coronavirus’s spread,” the Washington Post notes. Local firefighters speculate that the blaze could have originated with a barbeque or unregulated campfire.

Arctic wildfires, a new phenomenon that experts have dubbed zombie fires, come about when small peat fires smouldering beneath permafrost suddenly erupt into flames as the weather warms during spring. The low temperature combustion that fuels these peat and coal fires can persist for months or even years. Increasingly high temperatures have created the circumstances for evermore of these small fires to develop into substantial blazes. 

These fires pose unique dangers to the climate. Peatlands are ten times more carbon-packed than the boreal forests that blanket the rest of Siberia. When peatlands burn, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide and accelerate global warming which, in turn, “thaws more peat and causes more wildfires” in a vicious cycle. 

Siberia’s 2019 summer wildfires season saw 181 megatons of CO2 released. This year’s blazes, however, started earlier and have burned longer, causing them to have generated 35 percent more CO2 than last season. Scientists fear that these enormous carbon releases will become the new normal during summer wildfires in the Arctic as global temperatures continue to rise.

With the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic occupying the time and resources of local officials in Siberia, authorities expect a difficult recovery from this wildfire season. Moreover, the pandemic and a fall in oil prices has devastated the economy of the Transbaikal region and, unlike last year, uninsured fire victims will not receive compensation.