'Unprecedented': more than 100 Arctic wildfires burn in worst ever season

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/26/unprecedented-more-than-100-wildfires-burning-in-the-arctic-in-worst-ever-season

'Unprecedented': more than 100 Arctic wildfires burn in worst ever season

Edward Helmore

Fri 26 Jul 2019 20.08 BST Last modified on Fri 26 Jul 2019 21.39 BST

The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space.

The Arctic region has recorded its hottest June ever. Since the start of that month, more than 100 wildfires have burned in the Arctic circle. In Russia, 11 of 49 regions are experiencing wildfires.
(snip)

The largest blazes, believed to have been caused by lightning, are located in Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Buryatia. Winds carrying smoke have caused air quality to plummet in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia.

In Greenland, the multi-day Sisimiut blaze, first detected on 10 July, came during an unusually warm and dry stretch in which melting on the vast Greenland ice sheet commenced a month earlier than usual.

In Alaska, as many as 400 fires have been reported. The climatologist Rick Thomas estimated the total area burned in the state this season as of Wednesday morning at 2.06m acres.
(snip)

The fires are not merely the result of surface ignition of dry vegetation: in some cases the underlying peat has caught fire. Such fires can last for days or months and produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases.

“These are some of the biggest fires on the planet, with a few appearing to be larger than 100,000 hectares,” Smith said. “The amount of [carbon dioxide] emitted from Arctic circle fires in June 2019 is larger than all of the CO2 released from Arctic circle fires in the same month from 2010 through to 2018 put together.”
(snip)

[Duppers]

1. Change is escalating faster than ever expected.

And this is most terrifying.

[watoos]

2. Trump will Tweet something stupid

about how they should have raked the brush off the ground.

[left-of-center2012]

3. Trump

[The_jackalope]

4. I've been a "hysterical" hard-core doomer for 15 years

But I never expected to see this kind of acceleration. I thought I was leaving room for worst-case scenarios, but even I suffered a major failure of the imagination. Watching the fires spread through the Arctic is utterly terrifying.

[Mountain Mule]

5. Agree

The IPCC has been very conservative in its climate change scenarios. Given all the positive feedback loops that have been brought into play, only their worst case predictions are useful. My friends call me "Donna Doom," but unfortunately I was right. For once I wish that I had been wrong. "Utterly terrifying..."