Siberia, Russia is now the season for green vegetation as you can see in the picture.
But when I looked up from the sky, this year was all in ashes.
This year's wildfires in Russia are also serious.
Even this year, wildfires have spread to human habitation and devoured homes.
Why is the land of ice, Siberia, Russia burning?
This is a satellite image taken by NASA.
The white ones you see above and below are clouds, and smoke bigger than the clouds is covering the Siberian sky.
The heavily damaged city of Yakutsk was filled with smoke that made it difficult to breathe.
So far, 7.8 million hectares have been burned in Siberia.
Since the area of Korea is about 10 million hectares, it is said that 78% of the area of Korea was burned.
Regarding the cause of wildfires, local media pay attention to the possibility of arson to remove traces of illegal logging or a true story caused by a cigarette or bonfire, while the possibility of spontaneous ignition such as lightning is rather low.
So how long will the fire burn?
The area of Siberia is more than 100 times that of Korea.
It's not a fire that can be put out.
Russian policy is also a problem.
If the cost of putting out a fire outweighs the benefits of the forest, it chooses to leave it alone.
If I leave it like this, will the light go out?
In fact, even in winter, Siberia does not go out of fire.
This video was filmed by the local media in February of this year. At first glance, it looks like a hot spring, but it is actually smoke.
It is alive without the fire being extinguished under the earth.
This is possible because the land of Siberia is flammable because the land of Siberia is made of a material full of moss and plant debris called 'peat'.
It is not the wood, but the ground, which burns. This fire can last for several months, and the embers don't go out even in extreme cold, and then make a wildfire again in the spring.
So far, it is the primary cause, and the key is climate change.
Siberia has become hotter and drier and more flammable, which is the average moisture content of Siberian soils over the past 30 years.
I also took measurements last year, and it was confirmed that the land was dry, with a 20% decrease compared to the normal year.
As you can see, the temperature in Siberia also fluctuates up and down repeatedly, but it rose sharply in the 2000s and soared to 38 degrees this summer.
Wildfires fueled by climate change accelerate global warming.
Siberia and the Arctic, the frozen lands of north and south, and permafrost store twice as much carbon as the Earth's atmosphere.
If all the permafrost melts, the carbon dioxide concentration could more than triple.
Then Siberia becomes drier, and wildfires occur more frequently, and the vicious cycle repeats itself.
Siberia is not alone.
A strong wind called a jet stream blows over mid-latitude regions such as Korea and the United States, which circulates the atmosphere like a fan.
This jet stream is created between cold and hot air, and as Siberia heats up rapidly due to wildfires and warming, the jet stream formation point is also moving northward.
If this happens, the atmosphere in the mid-latitudes does not rotate and stagnates, so the hot places continue to be hot, and when heavy rain begins to pour, it continues for a long time.
The wildfires in Siberia may sound like a story from a distant country, but as you know, it is our story.
(Video coverage: Cho Chun-dong, Kim Se-kyung, video editing: Hwang Ji-young, CG: Seo Seung-hyun)