The effect of Arctic wildfires on carbon release: Arctic wildfires accelerate the release of organic carbon from the soil into the atmosphere, which can strengthen the feedback to warming. Graphic: V. Altounian / Science
Fires are more likely in the Arctic, Greenland, Siberia, and Alaska. In 2019, last areas of these landscapes were seen burning via satellite. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) declared the fires as unprecedented. The WMO added the northern hemisphere is warming faster than the planet as a whole. Earth’s boreal forest is burning at a rate unseen in 10,000 years.