A decade of brutal Arctic heat waves increased emissions from fires and permafrost, melted heat-reflecting sea ice and pushed the High North climate toward collapse.

BY BOB BERWYN, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS

JUL 15, 2020

Scientists Attribute Record-Shattering Siberian Heat and Wildfires to Climate Change

A view of a forest fire in central Yakutia from a helicopter. Credit: Yevgeny SofroneyevTASS via Getty Images

Siberia’s scorching, 100-degree temperature record made headlines in late June, but it was just the latest spike in a decade of historic heat waves across the Arctic that also set records for wildfires, thawing permafrost and melting sea ice. Such extremes, scientists said, show that Arctic warming is accelerating to outpace all but the most dire climate projections.

Intensifying warming in the Arctic trickles down to the rest of the world, melting Greenland’s ice to raise sea levels and flood coastal communities. It also shifts the paths of storms