Zombie Fires, Mysterious Craters, And The Climate Crisis

Zombie fires and other strange events are happening in the Arctic – here’s what you need to know

Johnnie Wood, 2 October 2020 (World Economic Forum)

“…Record-high Arctic carbon emissions in 2019 were eclipsed this year as summer fires helped push the region’s emissions more than a third higher still…Millions of acres of Russia’s Sakha Republic have been decimated by fire, as warming temperatures brought a summer wildfire season which started early [from fires smoldering zombie-like in the tundra’s peat] and combusted with unusual intensity, exacerbating the climate crisis…Climate change could also be behind the increase in cryovolcanism – the sudden and explosive appearance of vast craters – across parts of the Siberian tundra…Little is known about the series of at least nine giant craters that have been found in the Yamal peninsula…

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...[but] gases, chiefly methane, accumulate in the upper layers of permafrost [as a result of extreme summer heat and, over] time, the intense pressure build-up is strong enough to burst through the frozen ground to form a crater, at the same time releasing methane emissions into the atmosphere…Higher temperatures have [also caused an almost 39% reduction in sea ice since 1980]… In the Antarctic region, sea ice has shrunk by more than 6%...[These changes] are inviting keen interest from shipping, mining and other commercial sectors, which could exacerbate the climate crisis.” click here for more

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