Forest fires close to the Arctic Circle

This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission shows one of the many forest fires in the Sakha Republic, Siberia, on 25 July 2021. The image has been processed using the mission’s shortwave-infrared band to identify the active fires. Large clouds of smoke can be seen blowing in a southeast direction, while burn scars are visible in dark brown.

The fires taking place in the Sakha-Yakutia region have burned through 1.5 million hectares of land. The fires have shrouded Yakutia’s cities and towns in thick smoke, suspending all flights at the regional capital’s airport. In response to the wildfire, the International Charter Space and Major Disasters has been activated.

Russia is home to more than one-fifth of the global forest area, making it the world’s most forested country. A new study, led by Russian scientists using data from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, has produced new estimates of biomass contained in Russian forests, and confirms that the vast forested area is storing more carbon than previously estimated.