Arctic fires can release mass amounts of carbon

Global warming is responsible for increasingly large fires in Siberia, and in the decades ahead the blazes could release huge amounts of carbon currently trapped in the soil, according to a new report discussed in ABC News.

The study found the area above the Arctic circle heats up four times faster than the rest of the planet and causing "abnormal fire activity". It found fire damages frozen soil called permafrost, which releases even more carbon. 

Researchers fear a threshold might soon be crossed, beyond which small changes in temperature could lead to an exponential increase in the area burned in that region. If nothing changes, fires in the region could occur yearly.

The study found in 2019 and 2020, fires in Siberia destroyed a surface area equivalent to nearly half of that which burned in the previous 40 years. These recent fires themselves have spewed 150 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, the scientists estimate, contributing to global warming in what researchers call a feedback loop.