September 04, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

The European Union's Earth observation program recorded September 3 that Arctic Circle wildfires in 2020, still ablaze, have already surpassed the record set in 2019 for CO2 emissions. 

According to the observation from scientists at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), its Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) data discovered wildfires raging in the Arctic Circle smashed the records for carbon dioxide emissions in the year 2019. According to CAMS estimates, CO2 emissions from fires in the Arctic Circle have produced 244 megatons of carbon from January 1 to August 31, an increase of more than one third than the whole year of 2019 with 181 megatons of carbon.

Scientists stated that uncontrolled forest fires across one of the planet's coldest regions have sent a quarter of a billion tons of CO2 emitting into the atmosphere since January. Most of the increased wildfire activity was taken place in Russia's Sakha Republic which ravaged millions of acres of land and caused a spike in CO2 emissions, adding to the carbon pollution humanity needs to curtail. 

CAMS also noted the Arctic Circle is not alone in experiencing wildfire problems. A large portion of the southwestern US, mostly California and Colorado, has been ravaged by wildfires in heatwave conditions.

Photo:Webshot.