Siberian heat wave is a 'warning cry' from the Arctic, climate scientists say

[webfact]

Siberian heat wave is a 'warning cry' from the Arctic, climate scientists say

By Matthew Green and Emma Farge

 

Smoke rises from wildfires near Berezovka River in Russia in this June 23, 2020 image supplied by Maxar Technologies. Image taken June 23, 2020. Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies via REUTERS

 

LONDON/GENEVA (Reuters) - Pine trees are bursting into flames. Boggy peatlands are tinderbox dry. And towns in northern Russia are sweltering under conditions more typical of the tropics.  

 

Reports of record-breaking Arctic heat – registered at more than 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk on June 20 – are still being verified by the World Meteorological Organization. But even without that confirmation, experts at the global weather agency are worried by satellite images showing that much of the Russian Arctic is in the red.  

 

That extreme heat is fanning the unusual extent of wildfires across the remote, boreal forest and tundra that blankets northern Russia. Those blazes have in turn ignited normally waterlogged peatlands.

 

Scientists fear the blazes are early signs of drier conditions to come, with more frequent wildfires releasing stores of carbon from peatland and forests that will increase the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the air.

 

"This is what this heat wave is doing: It makes much more fuel available to burn, not just vegetation, but the soil as well," said Thomas Smith, an environmental geographer at the London School of Economics. "It's one of many vicious circles that we see in the Arctic that exacerbate climate change."

 

Satellite records for the region starting in 2003 suggest there has been a dramatic jump in emissions from Arctic fires during just the last two summers, with the combined emissions released in June 2019 and June 2020 greater than during all of the June months in 2003-2018 put together, Smith said.  

 

Atmospheric records dating back more than a century show Arctic air temperatures also reaching new highs in recent years. That leads Smith to believe the scale of the fires could be unprecedented as well.

 

"What we're seeing happening right now is the consequence of the past" industrial emissions, Smith says. "What will happen in 40 years' time is already locked in. We can't do anything about that. That's why we should be concerned; it can only get worse."

 

Although peatland covers only 3% of the Earth's land surface, those deposits contain twice as much carbon as all the world's forests together.

 

A NEW NORMAL

Scientists have known climate change is causing the Arctic to warm twice as quickly as the rest of the world, and the Siberian heat wave, which began in May, is typical of that trend.

 

"It becomes like an oven," said Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado who specialises in sea ice. "You are doing that on top of the longer-term warming trend, so you are getting the oven nicely baking a pie to scorching it." 

 

"What used to be extreme is becoming normal. Warmer temperatures are now relatively frequent," Meier said.

 

And as temperatures warm, and polar snow and ice melt, more Arctic area is left darker and absorbs heat faster, which contributes to more warming. The Arctic sea ice has lost 70% of its summer volume since the 1970s, with the area also shrinking to the point that last year saw one of the lowest ice covers on record. 

 

"WARNING CRY" 

The peat fires make the need to cut man-made emissions all the more urgent, say scientists, who warn that wider changes in the Arctic could trigger bigger impacts on the global climate system.

 

"It's a huge warning cry that's going off, but it's not the only systemic problem that's happening in the Arctic related to climate change," said Gail Whiteman, incoming professor of sustainability at Britain's University of Exeter and founder of the Arctic Basecamp group of scientists advocating for rapid climate action.

 

Whiteman and other researchers are also worried about the rising heat thawing Arctic permafrost https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-change-arctic-methane faster than expected, which is liable to produce far larger quantities of carbon dioxide and methane than are being released by the fires.

 

Guido Grosse, head of the Permafrost Research Unit at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, said the fires were stripping away peat and vegetation that normally would form a protective blanket over the permafrost.

 

"If you take this away the heat from the summer penetrates directly into the ground and warms the permafrost, and it starts thawing," he said. "You see this effect usually a few years after the fires."

 

The warming temperatures also appear to be making the Arctic wildfire season longer, said Jessica McCarty, an assistant professor of geography at Miami University in Ohio. Typically, the Arctic fire season runs from July to August, plus or minus a couple of weeks. This year, fires were detected in May.

 

And "as the peat burns … its neighbor next door gets warmer, and their neighbors get warmer," McCarty said. "We're burning up these ancient pools of carbon."

 

(Reporting by Matthew Green and Emma Farge; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-25

 

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[pegman]

 But, but, but, haven't  we been told by the deniers that we're going into a new ice age?  Just maybe the scientists know a bit of what they speak of. 

[Dumbastheycome]

What is  Not out of  balance in the world now?

The weather, the  water, the wealth, the politics........

 

[steven100]

it's not the weather that's a warning , it's the economies of the world that are more alarming .....

if all the worlds economies falter then folks have no jobs, no money, no food, no house, no nothing.

[Tug]

Give it 300 years our planet will be a desert I know we will be dead but future generations will be denied the opportunity to thrive not rite imo bad karma

[PatchinExPat]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Give it 300 years our planet will be a desert I know we will be dead but future generations will be denied the opportunity to thrive not rite imo bad karma

People laugh at that thought like it could never happen.

It has happened in the past.

The Sahara Desert used to green and it had a large lake in it,

now just sand in every direction. 

Nature and people stripped it of it's cover and now it is dead.

Once it happens there is just not enough fresh water to revive it.

[jimmjam]

2 hours ago, pegman said:

 But, but, but, haven't  we been told by the deniers that we're going into a new ice age?  Just maybe the scientists know a bit of what they speak of. 

You do know the earth was extremely hot before the ice age happened dont you?

[bendejo]

9 minutes ago, jimmjam said:

You do know the earth was extremely hot before the ice age happened dont you?

 

Well, they started finding pieces of dinosaurs in the thawed tundra a few years ago.  The message there could be that we are still in that ice age you mention, and it's wearing off.  Just a matter of time until the Earth is "extremely hot" again.  Seems humans are helping to expedite it.

Two years in a row of massive crop failures in the northern hemisphere and it's time to relocate to a space colony.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by bendejo

[jimmjam]

Just now, bendejo said:

 

Well, they started finding pieces of dinosaurs in the thawed tundra a few years ago.  The message there could be that we are still in that ice age you mention, and it's wearing off.  Just a matter of time until the Earth is "extremely hot" again.  Seems humans are helping to expedite it.

 

 

Very true

[johnpetersen]

30 minutes ago, bendejo said:

 

Well, they started finding pieces of dinosaurs in the thawed tundra a few years ago.  The message there could be that we are still in that ice age you mention, and it's wearing off.  Just a matter of time until the Earth is "extremely hot" again.  Seems humans are helping to expedite it.

Two years in a row of massive crop failures in the northern hemisphere and it's time to relocate to a space colony.

 

 

 

29 minutes ago, jimmjam said:

Very true

Actually, the rebound in temperature from the last period of glaciation ended about 7000 years ago. Up to about 1850 the average temperature was actually declining, albeit it very slowly. The problem with citing other epochs in Earth's history when temperatures were warmer is that it takes no account of rates. Earth has been considerably warmer. But those changes took thousands and thousands of years. Nothing like the sharp spike that is presently occurring. 

[Grumpy one]

So the old guy outside years ago with his sign was right

" The End Is Nigh " ????

[PJPom]

Hey Elon, got a spare seat on the Mars trip please ?

[Trentham]

6 hours ago, steven100 said:

it's not the weather that's a warning , it's the economies of the world that are more alarming .....

if all the worlds economies falter then folks have no jobs, no money, no food, no house, no nothing.

Humans are an infestation on the planet just like termites. The sooner we become extinct the better off the Earth will be.

[steven100]

14 minutes ago, Trentham said:

Humans are an infestation on the planet just like termites. The sooner we become extinct the better off the Earth will be.

well ............ you guys go and extinct ,  i'll hang around for another 20-30 years and see what happens '  ok 

[Trentham]

18 minutes ago, steven100 said:

well ............ you guys go and extinct ,  i'll hang around for another 20-30 years and see what happens '  ok 

You will be extinct too. You will have no choice.

 

[johnpetersen]

43 minutes ago, Trentham said:

Humans are an infestation on the planet just like termites. The sooner we become extinct the better off the Earth will be.

Given that we are taking so many species with us, it's best characterized as a murder-suicide.

[steven100]

14 minutes ago, Trentham said:

You will be extinct too. You will have no choice.

 

not if i get in a bunker like the yanks make.

[owl sees all]

52 minutes ago, Trentham said:

Humans are an infestation on the planet just like termites. The sooner we become extinct the better off the Earth will be.

There are just three hopes for us:

 

Live in outta space, like in that film outlander.

 

Live underground and in caves.

 

Live on the ocean floor in special houses.

 

I'm easy with any of those.

 

 

[from the home of CC]

yes, I can hear Greta baying at the moon from my balcony...

[wombat]

 

The Earth's axis is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the sun. But this tilt changes during a cycle , The tilt of the axis varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees. Because this tilt changes, the seasons as we know them become exaggerated

 

[Emdog]

When it is hotter north of arctic circle than it is in Bangkok, I reckon something is messed up.

Just wait til frozen methane at bottom of oceans thaws out....

[Krataiboy]

6 hours ago, bendejo said:

 

Well, they started finding pieces of dinosaurs in the thawed tundra a few years ago.  The message there could be that we are still in that ice age you mention, and it's wearing off.  Just a matter of time until the Earth is "extremely hot" again.  Seems humans are helping to expedite it.

Two years in a row of massive crop failures in the northern hemisphere and it's time to relocate to a space colony.

 

 

Thank God for Elon Musk!

https://www.space.com/37200-read-elon-musk-spacex-mars-colony-plan.html

 

[Krataiboy]

Researchers Shocked to Find Antarctic Penguins Much Happier With Less Sea Ice

 

Its an ill wind. . . 

 

https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-shocked-to-find-antarctic-penguins-much-happier-with-less-sea-ice/

[Pedrogaz]

2 hours ago, owl sees all said:

There are just three hopes for us:

 

Live in outta space, like in that film outlander.

 

Live underground and in caves.

 

Live on the ocean floor in special houses.

 

I'm easy with any of those.

 

 

How will you afford it?

[nobodysfriend]

It is a vicious circle that has been started by man made global warming .

This time it is not like the periods of warming the earth has gone through in it's evolution .

The scientists say that , even all toxic emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels would stop now , the planet would still continue to warm up even faster , and that for at least 40 more years ...

There is nothing that can be done anymore to reverse the effects of climate change ...

Well, at least this paints a clear picture of the future ...

if you add this virus and possibly more to come to this picture , it is Dystopia knocking on the door .

Mankind has a strong ability to adapt , but this time it will need to adapt to an hostile environment in which it will not be possible to produce enough food for all .

Same time the human population is still growing ... a perfect scenario for disaster .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by nobodysfriend

[fredwiggy]

I told my friends this was going to happen over 30 years ago when I saw how much damage they were doing daily to the Amazon, and no one believed me. Didn't have to be a scientist to see that species are dying daily and the world has been having weather problems since before then.

[fredwiggy]

Just now, nobodysfriend said:

It is a vicious circle that has been created by man made global warming .

This time it is not like the periods of warming the earth has gone through in it's evolution .

The scientists say that , even all toxic emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels would stop now , the planet would still continue to warm up even faster , and that for at least 40 more years ...

There is nothing that can be done anymore to reverse the effects of climate change ...

Well, at least this paints a clear picture of the future ...

if you add this virus and possibly more to come to this picture , it is Dystopia knocking on the door .

Mankind has a strong ability to adapt , but this time it will need to adapt to an hostile environment in which it will not be possible to produce enough food for all .

Same time the human population is stii growing ... a perfect scenario for disaster .

 

 

 

 

 

 

there is nothing that can be doene anymore

Unless the population can be reduced, not just made even. I think the earth can repair itself to some degree, but humans are going to have to stop burning fossil fuel completely, instead relying on solar and electric power by generation. Of course ending war possibility for the fuel it uses. Stop allowing Japan and other countries to rape the ocean without banning with first violations, which means every country working together, not impossible but close to. Completely stop cutting down trees except those that can be replanted, as in pine forests in the south. Trying to get enough people together to enforce this would be impossible, as the filthy rich don't care about anything besides today, and they are in charge., at least for the time being.

[nobodysfriend]

10 hours ago, steven100 said:

it's not the weather that's a warning , it's the economies of the world that are more alarming .....

if all the worlds economies falter then folks have no jobs, no money, no food, no house, no nothing.

The economies will collapse anway it seems .

They are all dependant on the financial markets , and the financia markets themselves are about as solid as a house of cards ...

[Lacessit]

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Unless the population can be reduced, not just made even. I think the earth can repair itself to some degree, but humans are going to have to stop burning fossil fuel completely, instead relying on solar and electric power by generation. Of course ending war possibility for the fuel it uses. Stop allowing Japan and other countries to rape the ocean without banning with first violations, which means every country working together, not impossible but close to. Completely stop cutting down trees except those that can be replanted, as in pine forests in the south. Trying to get enough people together to enforce this would be impossible, as the filthy rich don't care about anything besides today, and they are in charge., at least for the time being.

The Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances has demonstrated what can be done if there is enough co-operation between countries.

It's a rear-guard action by the fossil fuel industry, some of whom should be put up against a wall and shot for crimes against humanity.

[nobodysfriend]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances has demonstrated what can be done if there is enough co-operation between countries.

It's a rear-guard action by the fossil fuel industry, some of whom should be put up against a wall and shot for crimes against humanity.

The effects the virus had on the environment was benficial for the world and consequently for the quality of life for the people .

It kind of showed us what needs to be done NOW ... but wil it be done ?