This Year the Arctic is On Fire

It's been damp and chilly down here on the island. It's not great but at least the rains have been limiting the fire risk and we've yet to have one of those choking smoke days.

Those wanting warmth can head due north. It's much warmer in Alaska than in coastal British Columbia.  Anchorage had a record 90F day last week, its hottest day ever. But, true to form, warmth brings fire and fire brings smoke laden with fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, even cyanide.

It's not just the trees that are burning. Tundra is essentially peat, an ancient fuel, and as the tundra thaws it dries and can easily catch fire.

Arctic wildfires, some the size of 100,000 football pitches, emitted as much carbon dioxide (CO2) last month as the country of Sweden does in a whole year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday. 

“Since the start of June we’ve seen unprecedented wildfires in the Arcticregion,” a WMO spokeswoman, Clare Nullis, told a regular UN briefing in Geneva. 

“In June alone these wildfires emitted 50 megatonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, this is the equivalent of Sweden’s annual total CO2 emissions. This is more than was released by Arctic fires in the same month between 2010 and 2018 combined.”