Siberian heatwave of 2020

By: ​Nil Akbari

Summary: When you think of Siberia, you think of the super COLD temperatures that drop below 0 F. However, this year, Siberia had a heatwave that could not been possible without the global climate change. In the winters the average temp is -13°F and in summer the average temperature can get up to 63 °F However, this year, according to the World Weather Attribution, Siberia experienced a heat wave with staggering high temperature of 100 °F. This was recorded in the town of Verkhoyansk on June 20th. This set off few wildfires, had in impact on the local pests and also caused damage to permafrost. This made the snow to melt and causing ice to melt which destroyed many wildlife habitats. The current Siberian heat has contributed to raising the world’s average temperature to the 2nd hottest on record for the period January to May. Using public scientific methods scientists looked at a large region spanning most of Siberia, inclusive of the area affected by the prolonged six-month heat and the town of Verkhoyansk that recorded the record daily temperature for the Arctic region. While the record temperature north of the Arctic circle on June 20 made many headlines, impacts linked directly or in part to the extreme heat have been widespread. Persistent and unusually many wildfires have been observed. About 7,900 square miles of Siberian territory had burned so far this year as of June 25, compared to a total of 6,800 square miles as of the same date a year ago, according to official data. The result of these fires led to a release of 56 Megatons of CO2 in June 2020. This is more than the yearly CO2 emissions of some countries. Further impacts include health impacts on the population and the melting of permafrost which led to high damages, including environmental pollution. A scientist explained BBC that “A fuel tank near the isolated Arctic mining city of Norilsk burst in late May after sinking into permafrost that had stood firm for years but gave way during a warm spring.” Officials said. It released about 150,000 barrels of diesel into a river which had a significant impact on the sea wildlife. ​

Why we should care?  If we let climate change win, we could lose a lot of wildlife species that we see on out planet. Temperatures start to warm up in places that used to be super cold leading in melting ice. This results in the local wildlife finding hard to live. ​

Photo Credit: World Weather Organization

Example Article.
https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/wp-content/uploads/WWA-Prolonged-heat-Siberia-2020.pdf

​I found this article very interesting because I would love to visit Siberia one day. I really want to experience the record low temperatures and I watch a bunch of videos about their climates, wildlife, and the culture. I would have never thought that Siberia would have ever had a time where they reached 100°F in the summer. That really sparked my interest since it is never been heard of in the history. Climate change is real! We need to start change the way we live our lives and really need to think about how our activities are impacting the world. It causes a series of problems that just seem to trickle down. 

codScience in Action.
Andrew Ciavarella is a climate scientist with The Met Office,  the national meteorological service for the UK.

Scientists at The Met Office have done numerous environmental reports from specific topics to studies on the ecosystem. On this specific topic they have conducted studies and have contributed to a full report on the World Weather Attribution website. The report consists of 35 pages. The World Weather Attributions is an organization that haves’ scientists create reports on our ecosystems. They have scientists write about issues we are having in our world like the California Wildfires, Heatwaves in certain regions which is not normal to general topics of the environments. The organization also takes parts in projects which can raise awareness to the general public.