Arctic heatwave: Wildfire triggers polar ice melt, emits 56 megatonnes CO2

The polar region is warming at two to three times the global average, impacting nature and humanity at a global scale

With the global temperature rising due to higher carbon emissions, the threat to polar regions is increasing. Last month, the Arctic experienced alarmingly high temperatures, significant loss to its ice sheet, and extreme wildfires that deposited 56 megatonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 

The polar region is warming at two to three times the global average – impacting nature and humanity alike at the global scale.  The European Space Agency (ESA) in its new report observed that the Northern Hemisphere witnessed its hottest July on record — surpassing the previous record set in 2019. 

According to observations, the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, which lies above the Arctic Circle, recorded a staggering 38-degree Celcius on June 20. "Extreme air temperatures were also recorded in northern Canada. On August 11, Nunavut’s Eureka Station, located in the Canadian Arctic at 80 degrees north latitude, recorded a high of 21.9-degree Celcius – which were reported as being the highest temperature ever recorded so far north,"  ESA said in the report. 

In this image of Siberian fires, sea-ice can be seen to the north while smoke dominates the bottom part of the image with a number of active fires visible in the centre. (Source: ESA)

The agency released a map using the data generated by the  Copernicus Sentinel-3’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer measuring the amount of energy radiating from Earth’s surface.

Impacts of warming Arctic to be felt globally

While heatwaves in the Arctic are not uncommon, the persistent higher-than-average temperatures this year has devastating consequences for the rest of the world. The high temperature triggered wildfires in the Arctic Circle releasing a wide range of pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and solid aerosol particles in the air. Arctic wildfires emitted the equivalent of 56 megatonnes of carbon dioxide in June compared to 53 megatonnes in June 2019.

June saw widespread fires flaring up across the far northeast of Siberia and in the Arctic Circle. According to the European Union's Atmosphere Monitoring Service, "The fires have been particularly intense in Russia’s Sakha Republic and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the far northeast of Siberia, both of which have been experiencing much warmer-than-usual conditions." 

These wildfires affect radiation, clouds, and climate on a regional, and global scale.

This map shows the temperature of Eureka in the Canadian territory of Nunavut on 11 August 2020. (Source: ESA)

Ice melt triggers sea level rise

With the warming of temperature, the ice calving and melt has gathered pace in the region. The Siberian heatwave contributed to accelerating the sea-ice retreat along the Arctic Russian coast. This season the ice melt began as much as 30 days earlier than average. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the Arctic sea ice extent for July 2020 was on a par with the previous July minimum of 2012 – at nearly 27 per cent below the 1981-2020 average.
 

The ice melt has further opened the Arctic to navigation as more ships make their way to the polar regions. According to data collected by researchers from the Centre for High North Logistics at Norway’s Nord University, Traffic through the busiest lanes of the icy region along the Siberian coast increased 58 per cent between 2016 and 2019. Last year, ships made 2,694 voyages on the Northern Sea Route.

Melting of polar ice caps is opening new routes of sea navigation. (Shutterstock)

Even the Covid-19 pandemic, which has significantly slowed shipping activity worldwide as supply chains were disrupted, has not prevented traffic increasing on the Arctic artery. Ships made 935 voyages in the first half of 2020, up to the end of June, compared with 855 in the same period last year, the data shows.

The loss of ice sheets in Greenland Arctic and the Antarctic along with the thermal expansion of ocean water has accelerated the rise in sea-levels globally. The sea levels have risen on an average of 1.6 millimeters per year between 1900 and 2018. The study adds that the sea levels are rising at a faster rate than at any time in the 20th century.

Melting of ice sheets and thermal expansion account for nearly two-thirds of observed global mean sea-level rise. (Siurce: Shutterstock)

Call for concerted action

Without concerted climate action, the world will continue to feel the effects of a warming Arctic. Mark Drinkwater, an expert in glaciology and polar oceanography said, “Throughout the satellite era, polar scientists pointed to the Arctic as a harbinger of more widespread global impacts of climate change. As these interconnected events of 2020 make their indelible marks in the climate record, it becomes evident that a ‘green’ low-carbon Europe is alone insufficient to combat the effects of climate change.”