Siberia, home to much of the Earth’s permafrost, is heating up
Region experienced its warmest May on record as temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average
Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its hottest May on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said yesterday.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said May 2020 was 0.68°C warmer than the average May from 1981 to 2010, with above average temperatures across parts of Alaska, Europe, North America, South America, swathes of Africa and Antarctica.
Globally, “the average temperature for the twelve months to May 2020 is close to 1.3°C above the [pre-industrial] level”, Copernicus said referring to the benchmark by which global warming is often measured.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries have pledged to cap the rise in Earth average surface temperature to “well below” 2°C, and to 1.5°C if possible.
Carbon in the permafrost
The heatwave across parts of Siberia and Alaska will cause particular alarm in regions that were engulfed by huge forest fires last year fuelled by record heat, and where Copernicus has warned that “zombie” blazes smouldering underground may be reigniting.
The monitoring network said that there were “highly anomalous” temperatures over Siberia throughout the March to May period.
These reached close to 10°C above the 1981 to 2010 average over parts of the Ob and Yenisei rivers, where “record-early break-up of river ice has been reported”.
Copernicus recorded above average temperatures around much of the Arctic between March to May, although the spring was colder in northern Canada.