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Unusually high temperatures across the northern Siberian tundra have resulted in wildfires in the Yakutia region, which have burned an estimated one and a half million hectares of forest. A state of emergency is in currently in place.聽聽

Mark Parrington, a senior atmospheric scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, explains why the fires are particularly concerning. He says that areas where conditions are hotter and drier owing to conditions that correspond with climate change, are seeing the worst fires, and that they are seeing "shifts in when these fires start but also the duration and the persistence of them''. He notes that a direct result of these fires is that the air has become hazardous to breathe in the region and are also amplifying the effects of the usual pollution from transportation and industry.

Photo: A fire official fights a forest wildfire in Yakutia, in the Siberian area of Russia, June 2021 Credit: Getty Images