Climate change - 'culprit' causes wildfires and unusual heat

The temperature rises, the land is dry and many large forests turn into ash - these unusual phenomena are no longer confined to some countries or regions that are happening all over the world. From the Taiga region of Sibérie in Russia to the vast Rockies forest in Canada, Southern California (USA) and Australia, scientists have found clear evidence that the current status of widespread forest fires has its source. root from climate change.

The Scripps Institute's study (USA) found that since the 1970s, the number of large wildfires has skyrocketed not only in North America but throughout the world. The climate is warmer, causing the melting process to take place sooner and as a result the summer becomes drier, the main factor leading to a wide range of widespread forest fires in the western United States in three decades. Last year, including the devastating fires of the east Los Angeles.

Previously, researchers also made similar conclusions in Canada, where an average of 2.56 million hectares of forest are burned annually, compared with 1 million hectares in the early 1970s. jointly by US, Russian and Canadian scientists also affirmed the phenomenon of climate change related to forest fire situation in Sibérie.

This year, the region experienced the sixth consecutive wildfire season in the last 8 years . Climate expert Nadezda M. Tchebakova of Sukachev Forestry Institute (Russia) said the average temperature in winter in southern Sibérie between 1980 and 2000 was 2 to 40C higher than the average temperature of the 1960s. 'Snow begins to melt early in the spring while rainfall is decreasing. This combination is a favorable condition for wildfires to occur more broadly, ' said Nadezda. The data released by the institute's satellite show that more than 11.6 million hectares of forest - equivalent to Pennsylvania's state in the US - have been burnt in Russia since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, in Australia with chronic drought, 2005 is recognized as the hottest year in the country's history and the forest fire season is getting longer.

In addition to data on temperature, flow and melting levels collected in the last 34 years in the western forests of the United States, researchers also surveyed changes in cultivating practices. and forest management but found that these are secondary factors causing sudden increases in forest fires. However, the link between wildfires and climate change does not exist globally. Experts acknowledge that forest fires are still a complex phenomenon and in many parts of the world people are still the main actors, such as farmers burning upland fields or those who intentionally cause fires. Meanwhile, other factors also tend to increase the risk of forest fires. The warming weather in the North also stimulates the formation of thunder, an important cause of fire .

According to Johann Goldammer, director of the Global Forest Monitoring Center at the University of Freiburg (Germany), the Northern Hemisphere forests may have a decisive relationship to the fate of the global environment due to forest and forest land. Here contains peat that accounts for about one-third of the carbon stored in the Earth. Forest fires and peat release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accelerating climate warming and then increasing forest fires. Goldammer warned that the forest in the north was facing a carbon bomb and the activation of the bomb exploded.

Meanwhile, severe hot weather has been affecting not only Europe, the US, and Canada but also many East Asian countries. This unusual situation surprises the meteorological experts for drought as regional and not global issues. At the end of July, scientists led the results of the initial analysis of hot weather combined with the affected areas to show that this unusual weather is related to the climate change situation taking place. all over the planet.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global temperatures in the 20th century averaged 0.55 ^° C and that global warming would continue until emissions The human-induced greenhouse effect, most of which is carbon dioxide generated from the burning of fossil fuels, also accumulates in the atmosphere. According to the US National Center for Climate Data, the first half of 2006 was the warmest global climate period since the agency came into operation in 1895.

Next year, the subcommittee will publish a data update report in 2001 that says global temperatures are expected to continue to rise by 2 to 5 ⁰ C in the 21st century with heavy consequences. for people and the environment.

Data on global hot weather collected by the US National Oceanic and Meteorological Agency show that most US states are experiencing summer with an average temperature of 3-7 Celsius higher than those of the US other seasons of the year.Particularly in some western states, the temperature increases to 9 ⁰ C. In California, the temperature in Death Valley is up to 56.5 ⁰ C and many coastal cities in the West exceed 40 ^° C. According to statistics, the unprecedented heat wave of more than 3 weeks in the US has killed more than 150 people. On August 3 last, New York state experienced a record hot day with temperatures up to 46 ⁰ C.

In South America, temperatures in Uruquay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil are higher than the average of 7 degrees Celsius. A higher temperature than normal 7-9 ^° C also occurs in many European countries. The most serious in France, last month's hot weather was the reason for 112 deaths. Last month was marked as the hottest July in France in the past 55 years, the temperature increased by 3-4 ⁰ C compared to normal. Pakistan, Bangladesh and southern India also experienced days of temperatures higher than 3 ^° C while Central China increased temperatures to 5 ^° C. (SundayTimes, VNA)

Peak Khang