Signs of trouble

Siberia Is Already Experiencing Mid-Summer Temperatures And Major Wildfires

Think Progress,

6 April, 2014

Russia’s less than fearsome winter this year has drawn international attention. From the slushy snow at the Sochi games to December photos of grassy city parks in Siberia with locals posing in bikinis near ice-free rivers, Russia’s frozen mystique isn’t quite what it used to be.

And with a record-braking warm spring in parts of Siberia, experts are warning that 2014 could be an epic year for forest fires.

According to the Siberian Times, Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi has warned that this year’s fire season could be one for the record books.

“The forest fire situation is tense in Russia this year,” Donskoi said at a conference chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “Due to a shortage of precipitation the forest fire season has begun almost one and a half months ahead of the norm.”

Seventeen forest fires have already been reported across 2,000 hectares (for some perspective, that’s about 5,000 acres), and across Siberia last week century-old temperature records were shattered. In Siberia’s third largest city, Krasnoyarsk, it was 70ºF, and in Abakan, the capital city of Khakassia, it was a shocking 77ºF — temperatures typical of mid-summer for this area. Before this unusually balmy spring, the warmest temperatures these cities have seen since record keeping begin in 1014 were 60º and 65ºF respectively. That record was set back in 1938.

“It was the hottest April 1 on record for several western Siberian cities, including Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul and Gorno-Altaysk,” Renad Yagudin, of the Novosibirsk meteorological service told the Siberian Times. “The average temperature in Russia increased 0.4 degrees every ten years. Overall, the temperature in the area is 6.5-16.2 degrees Fahrenheit (2-9 Celsius) higher than the record set in 1989.”

Siberian wildfires may seem like a very remote threat to most of the world, but what happens in this region has consequences on a global scale.

Smoke from wildfires in Siberia is often lofted high enough into the atmosphere that it travels across the Pacific Ocean, blanketing the western coast of North America with hazy, hard to breathe air. In 2012, smoke from Siberia caused record ground-level ozone in British Columbia.

Smoke can also drift north from Siberia depositing soot across the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Darker, dirty ice reflects less solar radiation back into space. Ice that absorbs more radiation melts faster and, in turn, less ice in the Arctic can affect weather patterns around the world. When land-based ice melts it also contributes to sea level rise.

Wildfires hasten the thawing of vital permafrost as well. Globally, the trees and frozen soils of the boreal forests lock up an incredible 30 percent of the world’s carbon. But when permafrost melts it releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide and methane — leading many scientist to fear that these ecosystems may switch from being a giant carbon sink to being an unprecedented carbon source.

The latest United Nations International Panel on Climate Change report predicted increasing ‘permafrost degradation in Siberia’ as one the globe’s key trends in the coming years. 

Last year, in the Siberian Times the record temperatures were all just a bit of good fun, with pictures of girls in bikini.
No longer.

Forest fires arrive early as Siberia sees record high temperatures

The past week saw record warm weather in western Siberian cities including Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul and Gorno-Altaisk.

Some parts of Russia have shown even more extreme warming - in the Arctic, south Chukotka and Kamchatka regions temperatures rose 150 to 200 per cent more than in the rest of the country. Picture: Alexander Lesnyanskiy

Siberian Times,

8 April, 2014

Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi warned a conference chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: 'The forest fire situation is tense in Russia this year. Due to a shortage of precipitation the forest fire season has begun almost one and a half months ahead of the norm.'

By 2 April, 17 forest fires had been registered across 2,000 hectares. Among the areas now at risk after a faster-than-usual snow melt are the south of Siberia to the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District, to Baikal and the Amur regions.

'It was the hottest April 1 on record for several western Siberian cities, including Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul and Gorno-Altaysk,' said Renad Yagudin, of the Novosibirsk meteorological service. 'The average temperature in Russia increased 0.4 degrees every ten years. Overall, the temperature in the area is 6.5-16.2 degrees Fahrenheit (2-9 Celsius) higher than the record set in 1989.'

Some parts of Russia have shown even more extreme warming. In the Arctic, south Chukotka and Kamchatka regions temperatures rose 150 to 200 per cent more than in the rest of the country, reported RIA Novosti.

In October last year, Norwegian and Russian scientists said that surface water in the Barents Sea was 5 degrees Celsius warmer than normal. They linked the peak-temperatures with the unusually warm summer in the northernmost parts of mainland Norway and on Russia's northern Kola Peninsula.

The reports came in the same week as a UN panel predicted increasing 'permafrost degradation in Siberia' as one the globe's key trends in the coming years.

The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from Working Group II of the IPCC, detailed the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks.

Vast boreal forests in Siberia are, as in Canada, dying faster than was expected in 2007.