Wildfire Danger Increasing
Wildfires
are starting to break out in British Columbia, Canada. The wildfire
on the image
below started
on May 1, 2016 (hat tip to Hubert
BuĊgajewski).
2 May, 2016
The
coordinates of the wildfire are in the bottom left corner of above
map. They show a location where,
on May 3, 2016, it was 26.0°C (or 78.8°F). At a nearby
location,
it was 27.6°C (or 81.8°F) on May 3, 2016. Both locations are
indicated on the map on the right.
These location are on the path followed by the Mackenzie River, which ends up in the Arctic Ocean. Wildfires aggravate heat waves as they blacken the soil with soot. As the Mackenzie River heats up, it will bring warmer water into the Arctic Ocean where this will speed up melting of the sea ice.
Moreover, winds can carry soot high up into the Arctic, where it can settle on the sea ice and darken the surface, which will make that more sunlight gets absorbed, rather than reflected back into space as before.
The danger of wildfires increases as temperatures rise. NSIDC scientist Andrew Slater has created the chart below of freezing degree days in 2016 compared to other years at Latitude 80°N. See Andrew's website and this page for more on this.
These location are on the path followed by the Mackenzie River, which ends up in the Arctic Ocean. Wildfires aggravate heat waves as they blacken the soil with soot. As the Mackenzie River heats up, it will bring warmer water into the Arctic Ocean where this will speed up melting of the sea ice.
Moreover, winds can carry soot high up into the Arctic, where it can settle on the sea ice and darken the surface, which will make that more sunlight gets absorbed, rather than reflected back into space as before.
The danger of wildfires increases as temperatures rise. NSIDC scientist Andrew Slater has created the chart below of freezing degree days in 2016 compared to other years at Latitude 80°N. See Andrew's website and this page for more on this.
The
situation is dire and calls for comprehensive and effective action
as described in the Climate
Plan.
The season is starting early this year. Having suffered the wildfires of WA and OR in 2015, we are not looking forward to this year.
ReplyDelete