After Australia, Siberia is burning, indicating that the frequency of such events is on the rise, with myriad dire consequences.
For weeks, the huge fires that consumed Australia at the beginning of this year were front-page news – and a major cause of global concern. Now, Siberia – Russia’s northernmost region – is experiencing wildfires after record spring heat, with temperatures sometimes exceeding 30 degrees in May and an average of 10 degrees above seasonal standards. In 2019, unusually widespread fires swept through a million hectares of forest in the region. And there are indications that so-called “zombie” fires, which survived the winter, are re-emerging across the Russian Arctic.
Climate scientists warn that this kind of event will become increasingly commonplace in the future, and studies have even shown that climate change had greatly increased the risk of the massive fire event in Australia. But what about the long-term consequences for the environment, the climate and our health? We asked Athanasios Nenes, who leads EPFL’s Laboratory of Atmospheric Processes and their Impacts (LAPI), for his views. Nenes is one of the world’s foremost experts in atmospheric processes and suspended particulate matter (aerosols). His current research, which is funded by the European Research Council, focuses on the impact of biomass-burning aerosols on health and climate.
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