Energy & Science
Worst-Ever Arctic Fires Released Record Amount of CO2
Blazes burning from January to August this year generated emissions equivalent to a mid-sized country.
A forest fire in central Yakutia.
Photographer: Yevgeny Sofroneyev/TASS via Getty Images
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The Arctic has experienced the worst fire season on record for the second year in a row, with giant wildfires sending over one third more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than last year.
Fires raging across the Arctic Circle emitted 244 million tons of carbon dioxide for the first six months of the year, compared to 181 million tons for the whole of 2019, according to Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service or CAMS.