Heatwaves in Siberia and Flooding in China Blamed on Climate Change

According to National Geographic’s July 2020 article, the heatwaves that Siberia has been experiencing for months have caused its wildfires. Temperatures soared up to 100 F degrees, resulting in these wildfires and melting the permafrost (Stone, 2020).

Scientists fear that this could be a regular occurrence every summer. The soil is typically too wet, cold, and icy to burn, which might be the start that the Arctic will undergo changes that could cascade into other consequences, both local and global, the article says. The thawing tundra could release carbon that has been stored for hundreds of years, reshaping the ecosystem and causing new species to take over (Stone, 2020).

What is happening in the Arctic that is something different from the past

Although summer wildfires are not uncommon, scientists observe that fires are expanding to the north and that different types of ecosystems are burning (Stone, 2020).

Stone (2020) says, “The measure of fire heat output from the wildfires exceeds anything the Arctic has experienced since 2003.”

The Siberian town of Verkhoyansk experienced a record-breaking 100-degree day, and scientists have been observing higher-than-average temperatures for weeks and months (Stone, 2020).

The DW article also mentions that the receding glacier cover contributes to warming temperatures. White ice caps reflect most of the sun’s radiation to space, but the receding ice leaves darker open water that absorbs the sun’s rays, speeding up melting and preventing ice from forming (Kuebler & Schauenberg, 2020).

The article states that the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. June usually has average temperatures of 66 F, and most of the ground is frozen throughout the summer, but heatwaves in recent years have become a severe problem. Also, the average temperature in July this year is 10 degrees higher than average (Kuebler & Schauenberg, 2020).

Flooding in China, worst in decades

Meanwhile, China has experienced the worst flooding in decades. Overspills from the Yangtze River, China’s longest and most important waterway, have caused flooding in the past. The Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2009 and designed to prevent flooding, is now being examined for its efficacy, the South China Morning Post says (Wong, 2020).

China has suffered devastating floods from riverbank overspills in the past. Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 1931 Central China floods were the deadliest disaster, claiming 3.7 million lives. In 1998, the flooding killed 4000 people and displaced 14 million people (Wong, 2020).

What has caused China’s worst flooding this year

According to the China Meteorological Administration, the country has experienced a 20 per cent increase in heavy rainfall since 1961. Extreme rainfall has raised the water levels of 433 rivers above flood control, some of them reaching record highs. On July 2, the Yangtze River water level reached almost 147 meters, its first flood peak of the year (Wong, 2020).

Since early June this year, China’s 27 out of 31 provinces have been hammered by heavy rains. These have affected 37 million people, caused 141 deaths, and caused economic losses of around US$12.3 billion (Wong, 2020).

Extreme weather events like the heatwaves in Siberia and flooding in China are just two examples of what climate scientists call observed climate changes and trends. They have been calling for climate adaptation and mitigation measures to buffer the impacts of climate change.