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'What has enabled Russia to rise among the great powers of the world…has been the conquest of Siberia'
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Not just bikinis but wildfires heat up the Arctic as climate change frazzles the north of Siberia

By 0 and 0 and 0
09 August 2013

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'The fires are burning in an unusual area. Most summer wildfires in Siberia occur south of the 57 degrees North latitude line, along the southern edge of the taiga. The July 2013 fires are significantly north of that, raging in woodlands near the 65 degrees North line'. Picture: NASA

This unique summer for Northern Siberians brings Mediterranean temperatures but also 'out of control' blazes. Norilsk - one of Russia's coldest cities - basked in temperatures of 33C, as locals stripped off to catch a genuine Arctic tan, as we reported earlier

As NASA noted, the cause was a 'blocking high' - a persistent high pressure weather pattern over the Russian Arctic. 

For a few glorious summer days, the temperatures doubled from an average of 16C, but this also dried the land and led to wildfires, for example in the mainly Arctic autonomous district of Yamal-Nenets.  

'The fires are burning in an unusual area. Most summer wildfires in Siberia occur south of the 57 degrees North latitude line, along the southern edge of the taiga. The July 2013 fires are significantly north of that, raging in woodlands near the 65 degrees North line,' said one report.

'High temperatures play an important role in promoting wildfires.

'Warm fuels burn more readily than cooler fuels because less energy is required to raise their temperature to the point of ignition. With temperatures soaring in northern Russia, it was easier for previously active fires to continue burning and for lightning to spark new ones.'

wildfires Trans Baikal

Wildfires in Trans-Baikal region, 2012. Picture: Alexander Lesnyanskiy

At one point 56 fires were registered in Yamal-Nenets, along with nine in the permafrost region of Yakutia, also known as the Sakha Republic. As many as 133 paratroopers from the aviation forest security service were working in Yamal  and 50 additional paratroopers were dispatched in Yakutia

Maps showing fires ablaze in Arctic regions highlight a phenomenon that led to official blandishments. The Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz) accused the Yamal authorities of underreporting the scale of forest fires by 91,000 hectares.

'The first fires in Yamal were fixed in May. Those were small man-caused fires. Now the fire situation has gone out of control of the regional authorities,' said Andrei Zhilin, deputy head of Rosleskhoz, on 1 August. 

'The authorities of Yamal have been repeatedly warned about such development of the situation,' he stated.

At the time there were 44 fires in the region, engulfing a territory of about 5,700 hectares, he said, stressing that according to Rosleskhoz there also about 60 fires affecting an area of about 77,000 hectares which were unconfirmed by the region. 

He warned fires were spreading uncontrollably. Space monitoring data suggested that 130,000 hectares of woodland were destroyed by wildfires in 2013 in this region, while local officials put it at 39,000 hectares.

Comments (2)

Fires and drunken trees (warming permafrost)...that can be the beginning of a Northern Siberia ready for farming. It will take a couple of decades, but large areas of Siberia which were not arable as a consequence of permafrost will be ready for farming. Those lands will be more habitable. Millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussíans and immigrants from the rest of the World will populate the new inhabitable territories.
Enrique, Spain
12/08/2013 09:46
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You remaining believers must have WANTED your CO2 climate crisis to be real what with science ONLY agreeing for 28 years that it only COULD be a crisis and never saying it WILL be a crisis. Science has never agreed it will be a crisis only might be. How is that a crisis? REAL planet lovers are happy a crisis wasn't real after all. The rest of you are Green Neocons.

IF this really were a crisis the scientists would have ended this costly debate to save the planet long ago and simply said their own comet hit of an emergency was as real as they say comet hits are.

Its not a hoax or a crime to say "maybe" but it's a crime for you doomers to fear monger our children with 28 years of your exaggerated CO2 panic. Science didn't lie, you doomers did. Shame on all of you!

*Occupywallstreet now does not even mention CO2 in its list of demands because of the bank-funded and corporate run carbon trading stock markets ruled by politicians.
mememine69, Canada
10/08/2013 19:48
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