“The number and intensity of wildfires in the Arctic Circle is unusual and unprecedented,” said Mark Parrington, a scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service in an interview with CNN, “They are concerning as they are occurring in a very remote part of the world, and in an environment that many people would consider to be pristine,”

As many parts of the world are suffering from one of the worst heatwaves on record, the notoriously frosty Arctic is fairing no better. Iceland recently mourned the loss of its first glacier with a plaque, with more planned as we remain on track to lose most glaciers from several continents by the second half of the century. CNN sat down with scientists from CAMS and the Weather Meteorological Organization (WMO) to discuss the recent surge of heat the Earth is experiencing, and the prognosis is not good.

As the climate changes and record highs break each month, dense Northern forests are experiencing violent wildfires in places with little to no infrastructure, making fighting them practically impossible. Worse yet, these fires themselves further worsen climate change.

“The fires themselves contribute to the climate crisis by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They emitted an estimated 100 megatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere between 1 June and 21 July, almost the equivalent of Belgium’s carbon output in 2017, according to CAMS.”

CNN

As the Earth warms from a combination of natural processes and man-made emissions, more and more people are becoming endangered. Temperatures in France have reached as hot as 110 F. This is incredibly dangerous, as Europeans often don’t own homes with central air conditioning units as Americans do.