Rising Arctic Wildfires

Source- This post on the Rising Arctic Wildfires has been created based on the article “Why rising Arctic wildfires are a bad news for the world” published in “Indian Express” on 8 July 2024.

In recent years, the rise in Arctic wildfires has become a global concern.

About Rising Arctic Wildfires

1. Wildfires are a natural part of the Arctic’s boreal forest and tundra ecosystems.

2. Recent years have seen an increase in the frequency and scale of these fires, particularly in regions like Sakha, Russia, which experienced over 160 wildfires charring nearly 460,000 hectares of land by June 24, 2024.

3. June 2024 saw the third-highest carbon emissions from Arctic wildfires in the past two decades, following June 2020 and 2019.

Reasons for Worsening Wildfires:

i) The Arctic is warming approximately four times faster than the global average. Since 1980, the Arctic has become about 3°C warmer.

ii) Increased warming leads to more frequent lightning strikes, which have more than doubled in Alaska and the Northwest Territories since 1975.

iii) A slowed polar jet stream due to reduced temperature differences between the Arctic and lower latitudes results in prolonged warm weather and intense heatwaves, further increasing wildfire risk.

Future Projections

i) Rising temperatures, more frequent lightning, and heatwaves are expected to worsen, leading to more frequent wildfires.

ii) By 2050, wildfires in the Arctic and globally could increase by one-third. (Estimated by the World Wild Fund).

 Impact on Global Warming

i) Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Wildfires release significant amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.  While GHG emissions from wildfires are concerning, Arctic wildfires pose a greater threat due to the carbon stored in permafrost.

ii) Permafrost Thawing: Arctic permafrost contains around 1,700 billion metric tons of carbon, including CO2 and methane, which is about 51 times the global fossil fuel emissions of 2019.

iii) Wildfires destroy insulating layers of vegetation and soil, making permafrost more susceptible to thawing.

iv) Thawing permafrost releases ancient organic materials, leading to the decomposition and release of stored carbon into the atmosphere.

Potential Consequences: A large-scale thawing of Arctic permafrost would lead to an uncontrollable release of carbon. This could prevent the world from limiting global warming to within the 1.5°C threshold, resulting in catastrophic and irreversible consequences.

Lack of Monitoring and Urgency for Action

i) Post-fire permafrost emissions are not currently tracked and are not included in climate models. This lack of data makes it difficult to estimate their full contribution to climate change.

ii) Scientists emphasized that Arctic changes amplify global risks, highlighting the need for immediate and sustained efforts to combat this crisis.

UPSC Syllabus: Environment