Fires in Brazil wetlands surge to record start in 2024
As Jose Cleiton and Brandao Amilton ride their horses into the vastness of the Pantanal grassy wetlands of Brazil, a wall of smoke towers from the horizon far into the sky above.
The worst of the dry season is still far off, but already these Brazilian wetlands are so dry that wildfires are surging.
The number of Pantanal fires so far this year has jumped tenfold from the same period last year according to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE).
An Alaska wildlife refuge is changing its wildfire strategy to limit carbon emissions
If blazes break out in parts of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, firefighters will protect the layers of forest floor and permafrost that hold carbon
Baked with the around-the-clock summer sunlight and regularly peppered with lightning strikes, the Yukon Flats region in eastern Interior Alaska is regularly set ablaze with fires that are considered part of the natural forest cycle. Standard practice is to let them burn out on their own, unless they threaten people, their homes or other economically valuable property.
That is set to change this summer.
Continue reading on Alaska Beacon.
Climate records keep getting shattered. Here is what you need to know
Month after month, global temperatures are setting new records. Meanwhile, scientists and climate policymakers warn of the growing likelihood that the planet will soon exceed the warming target set at the landmark Paris 2015 climate talks.
Making sense of the run of climate extremes may be challenging for some. Here’s a look at what scientists are saying.
Read more on Associated Press News.
Traders are bracing for a record-smashing summer that will shake up commodities
Around the world, people are already living through the havoc brought on by global temperatures that are breaking records. It’s about to get a lot worse.
Odds are growing that 2024 will become the hottest year in history as the Northern Hemisphere barrels into summer. Prices for some of the world’s most vital commodities — natural gas, power and staple crops like wheat and soy — are climbing. The world of shipping, already thrown into chaos from the Red Sea to the Panama Canal, is likely to be rocked again by parched waterways. And the potential for destructive wildfires is increasing.
Read more from the article by Bloomberg News.
The world is ignoring the other kind of deadly carbon
Not only is black carbon terrible for human health, but ever-fiercer wildfires are covering the Arctic with the dark particles, accelerating melting.
Once again, vast expanses of Canadian wilderness are on fire, threatening towns and forcing thousands to flee. It appears to be a breakout of “zombie fires”: wildfires from last year that never actually went out completely but carried on smoldering underground, reigniting ground vegetation again this year. They’ve been pouring smoke—once again—into northern cities in the United States. That haze is loaded with a more obscure form of carbon, compared to its famous cousin CO2: black carbon. By May 16, the fires’ monthly carbon emissions surpassed 15 megatons, soaring above previous years.
Brazil’s Amazon fires off to record 2024 start as green union blames firefighting budget cut
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has experienced its largest blazes on record in the first four months of the year, with the environmental workers union on Monday placing partial blame on lower government spending on firefighting.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has staked his international reputation on protecting the Amazon rainforest and restoring Brazil as a leader on climate policy.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is vital to curbing catastrophic global warming because of the vast amount of greenhouse gas it absorbs.
Highfield Hall will present art/science collaboration ‘In Flux’
Highfield Hall & Gardens’ new exhibit “In Flux: Perspectives on Arctic Change,” is scheduled to open on Tuesday, May 21. The exhibition, sponsored by Woodwell Climate Research Center, features selections from four artists who partnered with Woodwell Climate scientists in Arctic field research—installation artist Aaron Dysart, filmmakers Michaela Grill and Karl Lemieux, and photographer Gabrielle Russomagno—as well as Woodwell board member and encaustic painter Georgia Nassikas and Woodwell Climate cartographer Greg Fiske.
Read more on The Falmouth Enterprise.
Massachusetts summer outlook: What seasonal forecasters expect in greater Boston
Weather across Massachusetts and New England always feels like riding a roller-coaster, but some patterns and trends define what type of conditions will be typical for the season to come.
Harvey Leonard, chief meteorologist emeritus, received insight from three forecasting experts to get a picture of what may be to come.
“I think this summer’s going to be a warm one,” Dan Leonard, a long-term weather forecaster at Andover-based The Weather Company said.
Leonard (no relation) thinks this summer may end up as much as one to two degrees above normal.
