The huge forest fire in Siberia is visible from the space

The Russian Federal Forest Agency announced on Wednesday that some 33,200 hectares of Siberia were affected by forest fires and that at least 745 outbreaks remained in operation, while the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was attributed to climate disasters also occurring in Greenland and Alaska.

In a statement published on the United Nations website, WMO warned that the mbadive ecological devastation caused by fires in Siberia already had an impact on air quality for hundreds of kilometers and that the smoke "could be clearly seen from the space."

The International Meteorological Agency said that this month alone, emissions of these natural phenomena amount to 75 megatonnes of carbon dioxide.

"By burning vegetation, fires also reduce the biosphere's ability to absorb carbon dioxide, and the response to climate change needs to be expanded," said Oksana Tarasova, head of the division for climate change. WMO research Atmosphere and environment.

Global warming, a decisive factor

As the heatwave in Europe spread to Scandinavia and Greenland, the already above-average ice sheet melting rate accelerated.

Greenland has already experienced an intense melting episode between June 11th and 20th. The high level of persistent melting in recent weeks means that the season's total is close to the record of 2012, according to polar meteorological scientists who monitor the ice cap of this country.

The North station, located 900 km from the North Pole, measured a temperature of 16 ° Celsius and west of Greenland, the Qaarsut station recorded a temperature of 20.6 ° on July 30; at Summit Camp Station, at the apogee of the ice cap and at 3,200 meters altitude, a temperature of 0.0 ° was measured.

"It is important to remember that, regardless of the day or the year, the surface of the Greenland ice cap is largely a result of the weather, although with the underlying climate trend that affects that, "Ruth Mottram, climatologist at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

This also applies to the Arctic sea ice, where the loss of pack ice during the first half of July coincided with the loss rates observed in 2012, when the pack ice had the smallest sea ice extent. recorded in September, according to the US Snow and Ice Data Center.

The organization also confirmed that Swiss glaciers lost nearly one billion tonnes of ice and snow during unusual heat waves in June and July.

"It's something quite exceptional, over a period of only 14 days, and summer is not over yet," said an expert quoted by WMO.