Warming in Siberia

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Siberian Arctic leads the way in 'revolutionary' Northern Hemisphere warming

Average temperatures in the north of the Kara and Barents seas were 4C to 5C higher than previous years.

'The planet and humanity can adapt to the evolutionary process. But now revolutionary changes are taking place.' Picture: Sergey Anisimov

Siberian Times,

9 January, 2015

This startling increase comes as meteorologists say the negative consequences of this warning can be measured directly, with a rapid rise in deadly and destructive wild fires, for example. The Russian Hydrometeorological Centre say the the year 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere was the warmest since 1891 when the records began.

The average annual temperature in 2015 for the first time in history exceeded the norm by 1C within the first ten months of the year. Compared with 2014, which was considered to be the warmest in the world, the rise average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere was 0.2C.

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Air temperature anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere in 2015. Air temperature anomalies in Russia in 2015. Pictures: Russian Hydrometeorological Centre

Such a change in the average annual temperature in comparison with the previous year occurred for the first time in history. The largest anomaly in average temperatures was registered in the north of the Kara Sea - on the roof of Siberia - stretching westward to the Barents Sea. 

Overall, in Russia, 2015 was the second warmest in history beaten only by 2007. Large rises of more than +3C were registered in the Siberian Federal District and the Northern Urals. The Siberian Federal District repeated the records of 2007 and 2011.

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Drifting research station North Pole-2015. Observation made in Arctic by the team of the Institute of Geography RAS. Picture: Artyom Geodakyan/TASS, Vesti.ru

The director of the Russian Hydrometeorological Centre,  Roman Vilfand, said: 

'For many billions of years of existence of our planet, of course, there were higher temperatures, and lower, but there has never happened such a rapid rise in temperature. 

'The planet and humanity can adapt to the evolutionary process. But now revolutionary changes are taking place.

'There are many scientific theories on the dynamics of climate. First of all, this is a complex physical, mathematical, weather, climate challenge - (but) what determines the climate change? 

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Extremely hight temperatures in autumn, wildfires around Baikal, in TransBaikal region and Khakassia, flood on Russian Far East and in Altai. Pictures: Violetta Propishina, Valery Samsonov, 

'Most scientists attribute this to a complex interaction between the ocean, atmosphere and continents. But in the post-industrial period, there is another factor that is not in doubt - human activity.

'The increase in production leads to increased levels of carbon dioxide. And this increase takes place at very high speeds. This leads to an increase in temperature.'

During the first 11 months there were 401 'meteorological events', which led directly to 'negative consequences'. In 2014, there were 368. 

The wildfires which destroyed huge tracts of pristine land in Siberia and the Russian Far East in 2015 were among these consequences, as were examples of serious flooding.