Siberian wildfires

Picture: Id 426365. Siberian wildfires. Released 30/07/2019 4:20 pm. Copyright contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. ESA ©
Unusually hot and dry conditions in parts of the northern hemisphere have been conducive to fires raging from the Mediterranean to, in particular, the Arctic. Climate change, with rising temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns, is amplifying the risk of wildfires and prolonging the season. – photo: www.wmo.int and Copernicus Sentinel ©

On 29 July the European Space Agency (ESA) reported that hundreds of wildfires have broken out in Siberia, some of which can be seen in this image captured from space the previous day.

It is understood that almost three million hectares of land are estimated to have been affected, according to Russia’s Federal Forestry Agency.

This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows a number of fires, producing plumes of smoke. The smoke has carried air pollution into the Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, and Altai regions.

Furthermore, it is reported that an unprecedented amount of wildfires have been raging in regions of the Arctic, including Greenland and Alaska in the US. They have been caused by record-breaking high temperatures and lightning, fuelled by strong winds.