2024 Russian wildfires | |
---|---|
Date(s) | March 2024 – ongoing |
Location | Russian Far East and Southern Russia, primarily Amur Oblast, Sakha Republic, and Zabaykalsky Krai |
Statistics [1] [2] [3] | |
Total fires | 6,000+ (6.8 megatons in carbon emissions) |
Total area | 8.8 million hectares (21.7 million acres) |
Ignition | |
Cause | Climate change-induced temperature increases, drier conditions, and drier soil. |
Season | |
← 2023 2025 → |
In 2024, far-reaching wildfires ignited and spread across large areas of Russian territory, primarily in Siberia and also in southern regions. The wildfires resulted in a burnt area of 8.8 million hectares (21.7 million acres) by July 18, and carbon emissions of 6.8 megatons by July 1, equaling the combined June-July emissions of 2023 in just one month.
Climate researchers and experts stated that increases in global temperature have led to the increased prevalence of wildfire conditions across Russian forests by causing increased heat, drier conditions, and decreased soil moisture. [1]
Wildfires first began to prominently appear in March 2024, burning nearly 65,000 hectares across the Far East in Khabarovsk, Amur Oblast, Buryatia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. [4]
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) first detected major wildfires in the Arctic regions of Russia in early June, and recorded "high carbon emissions in the Arctic Circle" as a result. CAMS detected exceptionally higher-than-average daily total fire radiative power values in the Amur Oblast, Sakha Republic, and Zabaykalsky Krai, which markedly increased at the beginning of July. In particular, the values in Amur Oblast had already reached the highest amount in the June-July period since the start of the dataset 22 years ago by July 15. By July 1, the estimated amount of carbon emissions from wildfires in Russia for June-July 2024 already matched the June-July emissions of 2023. [5] [6] CAMS also stated that by the last week of June, 6.8 megatons of carbon emissions had already been generated by wildfires, marking the third highest annual amount in Russia in the past 20 years exceeded only by the 2019 and 2020 wildfire seasons. Senior CAMS scientist Mark Parrington stated that: "the northeastern region of the Arctic had experienced the largest increase in extreme wildfires over the last two decades". [3]
Russian officials stated that by 24 June, 160 wildfires had already burnt nearly 460,000 hectares of land. [3] Official Russian figures in mid-July stated that 6,000 wildfires had burned an area over 3.5 million hectares in size, meaning that while the number of wildfires was decreased by 30% from 2023, the burned area had increased by 50%. [7]
On July 18, the independent environmental organization Earth Touches Everyone reported that official wildfire data indicated that by 17 July, 8.8 million hectares (21.7 million acres) across Russia burned due to widespread wildfires in 2024, and noted that 2024 was worse than the 2022 and 2023 wildfire seasons. The Russian Federal Forest Management Agency reported that 5,000 civilians were fighting 222 different wildfires across 20 different regions. Wildfires in the Sakha Republic destroyed an area of over 930 hectares and came within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the village of Belaya Gora. [1]
On July 14, Novorossiysk mayor Andrei Kravchenko declared an evacuation order and state of emergency for the city due to a wildfire that had already "impacted several recreation centers around the city". Buses and boats were used to evacuate civilians. [8]
In mid-August, Tuva Republic authorities in southern Siberia issued an evacuation order for close to five hundred children away from summer camps located near 31 wildfires burning forests in the region that had burned 2,850 hectares (7,043 acres). [9]
Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south.
The Russian Far East is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Federal District, which encompasses the area between Lake Baikal and the Pacific Ocean. The area's largest city is Khabarovsk, followed by Vladivostok. The region shares land borders with the countries of Mongolia, China, and North Korea to its south, as well as maritime boundaries with Japan to its southeast, and with the United States along the Bering Strait to its northeast.
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. Although nominally independent, it largely came under the control of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which envisaged it as a buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Its first president was Alexander Krasnoshchyokov.
Nerchinsk is a town and the administrative center of Nerchinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located on the left bank of the Nercha River, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) above its confluence with the Shilka River, 644 kilometers (400 mi) east of Lake Baikal, about 225 kilometers (140 mi) west of the Chinese border, and 305 kilometers (190 mi) east of Chita, the administrative center of the krai. Population: 14,959 (2010 Census); 15,748 (2002 Census); 16,961 (1989 Soviet census); 6,713 (1897).
Zabaykalsky Krai is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Russian Far East. Its administrative center is Chita. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 1,107,107.
Climate change has serious effects on Russia's climate, including average temperatures and precipitation, as well as permafrost melting, more frequent wildfires, flooding and heatwaves. Changes may affect inland flash floods, more frequent coastal flooding and increased erosion reduced snow cover and glacier melting, and may ultimately lead to species losses and changes in ecosystem functioning.
Yakutsk Time (YAKT) is a time zone in Russia which is nine hours ahead of GMT, and six hours ahead of Moscow Time (MSK).
Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century. Buddhism is considered to be one of Russia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia, the religion of Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts.
The permafrost carbon cycle or Arctic carbon cycle is a sub-cycle of the larger global carbon cycle. Permafrost is defined as subsurface material that remains below 0o C for at least two consecutive years. Because permafrost soils remain frozen for long periods of time, they store large amounts of carbon and other nutrients within their frozen framework during that time. Permafrost represents a large carbon reservoir, one which was often neglected in the initial research determining global terrestrial carbon reservoirs. Since the start of the 2000s, however, far more attention has been paid to the subject, with an enormous growth both in general attention and in the scientific research output.
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The 2019 Alberta wildfires have been described by NASA as part of an extreme fire season in the province. In 2019 there were a total of 803,393.32 hectares, which is over 3.5 times more land area burned than in the five-year average burned. The five year average is 747 fires destroying 146,360.08 hectares. There were 644 wildfires recorded in Alberta. By May 31, 10,000 people had been evacuated, 16 homes, and the Steen River CN railway bridge, had been destroyed.
The 2019 Siberian wildfires began in July 2019 in poorly accessible areas of northern Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sakha Republic and Zabaykalsky Krai, all in Siberia, Russia. By the end of the month the size of the fires reached 2,600,000 hectares. As of 30 July, there had been no reported deaths or injuries due to the fires.
Susan G. Conard is an American scientist whose expertise focuses on wildland fires in Northern California and Taiga. During the 1980s and 1990s, Conard worked as a research and project leader for the United States Forest Service, publishing pieces on fire management and carbon sequestration. She is currently the editor for the International Journal of Wildland Fire.
Greenhouse gas emissionsbyRussia are mostly from fossil gas, oil and coal. Russia emits 2 or 3 billion tonnes CO2eq of greenhouse gases each year; about 4% of world emissions. Annual carbon dioxide emissions alone are about 12 tons per person, more than double the world average. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore air pollution in Russia, would have health benefits greater than the cost. The country is the world's biggest methane emitter, and 4 billion dollars worth of methane was estimated to leak in 2019/20.
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From June 2021, the taiga forests in Siberia and the Far East region of Russia were hit by unprecedented wildfires, following record-breaking heat and drought. For the first time in recorded history, wildfire smoke reached the North Pole.
The 2024 wildfires in Canada began as an extension of the record-setting 2023 wildfires. The country experienced an unusually long fire season in 2023 that had extended into the autumn; these fires smouldered through the winter and about 150 re-ignited as early as February 2024. By early May, large wildfires had broken out in Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba. Soon after, there were also significant fires in Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
On the afternoon of 11 August 2024, a wildfire fire hit the northeastern Attica region of Greece. The fire broke out in the area of Varnavas, northeast of Athens, at 3:02 PM, according to Fire Colonel Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, the Fire Service spokesman and quickly spread due to strong winds. The flames caused the evacuation of many settlements and caused severe damage to homes and forest lands. The fire continues to burn, affecting significant parts of northeastern Attica and threatening the northern districts of Athens.