Siberian Wildfires and Heatwaves in Alaska: How the Arctic Is Nearing a Point of No Return

Many of the globe’s far northern regions have been experiencing extreme weather events over the past two months. Plumes of smoke have been picked up by satellites from wildfires across Alaska and Siberia and Greenland has experienced rapid ice loss as usually frigid regions have experienced heatwaves and record temperatures.

Smoke rises from a wildfire on July 3, 2019 south
of Talkeetna, Alaska near the George Parks Highway.
 Alaska is bracing for a dangerous fire season with
record warm temperatures and dry conditions in parts of the state.

 

As the Arctic faces extreme weather events caused by climate change, the events could have ripple effects that accelerate temperature increases across the world, according to scientists and experts.

“The basic chemistry and the basic physics of how the atmosphere absorbs heat — there’s no path where you can imagine that the Arctic is going to start to cool off again,” says Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist and post doctoral fellow at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“Cold air has to come from somewhere, cold air doesn’t just magically appear, and that somewhere has to be accounted for in the entire energy balance of the Earth. Right now the whole Earth has just warmed up,” Brettschneider tells TIME. “It would take a dramatic reversal of the chemical composition of the atmosphere.”

Read the story from Time by Jasmine Aguilera - “Siberian Wildfires and Heatwaves in Alaska: How the Arctic Is Nearing a Point of No Return.”

Twitchers say $375m road's 80,000 cars a day will be bad news for birds

They come from Siberia to enjoy a slice of Australian bush wedged between housing estates and highways in the suburban sprawl of south-east Melbourne.

Twitchers say Braeside Park's unique birdlife is under threat.

The sharp-tailed sandpiper – an unassuming, small, brown bird – makes the long flight to feast on worms and insects during the warmer months on the grassy banks of the Braeside Park shallows.

They are among nearly 200 species to be found in the park – 296 hectares of woods and grassland where, if you can’t see the birds, it is quiet enough to hear them.

But bird watchers, conservationists and residents warn the planned Mordialloc Freeway will threaten the area and the animals that call it home.

Read the story by Timna Jacks from The Age - “Twitchers say $375m road's 80,000 cars a day will be bad news for birds.”

7,000 underground gas bubbles poised to ‘explode’ in Arctic

Scientists have discovered as many as 7,000 gas-filled 'bubbles' expected to explode in Actic regions of Siberia after an exercise involving field expeditions and satellite surveillance, TASS reported.

With time the bubble explodes, releasing gas. This
 is how gigantic funnels form.' Picture: Yamal Region.

A number of large craters - seen on our images here - have appeared on the landscape in northern Siberia in recent years and they are being carefully studied by scientists who believe they were formed when pingos exploded.  

Alexey Titovsky, director of Yamal department for science and innovation, said:  'At first such a bump is a bubble, or 'bulgunyakh' in the local Yakut language. 

'With time the bubble explodes, releasing gas. This is how gigantic funnels form.' 

Read The Siberian Times story - “7,000 underground gas bubbles poised to ‘explode’ in Arctic.”

As Earth Warms, the Diseases That May Lie Within Permafrost Become a Bigger Worry

Veterinarians perform a health check-up on
 a young deer on the Yamal Peninsula in
Siberia after an anthrax outbreak there. 

This past summer anthrax killed a 12-year-old boy in a remote part of Siberia.
 At least 20 other people, also from the Yamal Peninsula, were diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease after approximately 100 suspected cases were hospitalized. Additionally, more than 2,300 reindeer in the area died from the infection. The likely cause? Thawing permafrost. According to Russian officials, thawed permafrost—a permanently frozen layer of soil—released previously immobile spores of Bacillus anthracis into nearby water and soil and then into the food supply. The outbreak was the region's first in 75 years.

Researchers have predicted for years that one of the effects of global warming could be that whatever is frozen in permafrost—such as ancient bacteria—might be released as temperatures climb. This could include infectious agents humans might not be prepared for, or have immunity to, the scientists said. Now they are witnessing the theoretical turning into reality: infectious microorganisms emerging from a deep freeze.

Read the Scientific American story - “As Earth Warms, the Diseases That May Lie Within Permafrost Become a Bigger Worry.”

Mysterious crater signs of 'ticking climate bomb'

When a helicopter pilot spotted the first crater in summer 2014, everyone was baffled.

The 100-foot-wide hole appeared on the Yamal Peninsula seemingly out of nowhere, during a tense season of Russian military action in Ukraine and international sanctions.

And then more appeared. Lacking a better explanation, aliens and underground missiles were floated as possible theories, according The Washington Post.

But the truth is that the holes might come from a threat not even Mulder and Scully are equipped to handle: climate change.

Read the Business Insider story - “Giant holes found in Siberia could be signs of a ticking climate 'time bomb'.”

Heading into the world of 'unknown unknowns'

Climate change is presenting the world with more “unknown unknowns”.

The former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, talked about “known unknowns and unknown unknowns” and although he was not talking about the implications climate change, but could have been.

An example of the dilemma highlighted by Rumsfeld is happening in Siberia where in the middle of last summer suddenly large craters appeared that as first seemed inexplicable.

It is now understood, however, that they are a product of climate change that has thawed the permafrost and allowed methane to escape.

A Melbourne Age story headed: “Scientists know there are more giant craters in Siberia, but arenervous to even study them” discusses the craters and points out that officials don’t want to scare people, but need to further examine explore the causes of the craters.