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'The few descriptions of Irkutsk had spoken of it as the Paris of Siberia'
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Siberian Arctic leads the way in 'revolutionary' Northern Hemisphere warming

By 0 and 0 and 0
05 January 2016

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'The planet and humanity can adapt to the evolutionary process. But now revolutionary changes are taking place.' Picture: Sergey Anisimov

This startling increase comes as meteorologists say the negative consequences of this warning can be measured directly, with a rapid rise in deadly and destructive wild fires, for example. The Russian Hydrometeorological Centre say the the year 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere was the warmest since 1891 when the records began.

The average annual temperature in 2015 for the first time in history exceeded the norm by 1C within the first ten months of the year. Compared with 2014, which was considered to be the warmest in the world, the rise average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere was 0.2C.

Temperature scheme


Temperature scheme

Air temperature anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere in 2015. Air temperature anomalies in Russia in 2015. Pictures: Russian Hydrometeorological Centre

Such a change in the average annual temperature in comparison with the previous year occurred for the first time in history. The largest anomaly in average temperatures was registered in the north of the Kara Sea - on the roof of Siberia - stretching westward to the Barents Sea. 

Overall, in Russia, 2015 was the second warmest in history beaten only by 2007. Large rises of more than +3C were registered in the Siberian Federal District and the Northern Urals. The Siberian Federal District repeated the records of 2007 and 2011.

North Pole-2015


Arctic ice melting

Drifting research station North Pole-2015. Observation made in Arctic by the team of the Institute of Geography RAS. Picture: Artyom Geodakyan/TASS, Vesti.ru

The director of the Russian Hydrometeorological Centre,  Roman Vilfand, said: 'For many billions of years of existence of our planet, of course, there were higher temperatures, and lower, but there has never happened such a rapid rise in temperature. 

'The planet and humanity can adapt to the evolutionary process. But now revolutionary changes are taking place.

'There are many scientific theories on the dynamics of climate. First of all, this is a complex physical, mathematical, weather, climate challenge - (but) what determines the climate change? 

Spring in Autumn


Wildfires on Baikal


Dramatic floods hit Altai with fears of worse to come


Wildfires in Trans-Baikal region

Extremely hight temperatures in autumn, wildfires around Baikal, in TransBaikal region and Khakassia, flood on Russian Far East and in Altai. Pictures: Violetta Propishina, Valery Samsonov, 

'Most scientists attribute this to a complex interaction between the ocean, atmosphere and continents. But in the post-industrial period, there is another factor that is not in doubt - human activity.

'The increase in production leads to increased levels of carbon dioxide. And this increase takes place at very high speeds. This leads to an increase in temperature.'

During the first 11 months there were 401 'meteorological events', which led directly to 'negative consequences'. In 2014, there were 368. 

The wildfires which destroyed huge tracts of pristine land in Siberia and the Russian Far East in 2015 were among these consequences, as were examples of serious flooding.

Comments (4)

It's natural. It's happened before and not that long ago...the 1920s and 30s the arctic melted rapidly. We have accurate temp records in central MN that show the past 25 years was actually 2 tenths of a degree cooler than 1900 to 1924. But our co2 level is up 33%. Obviously Co2 is not the knob on the climate some think it is.
Bob, Minnesota USA
18/01/2016 13:17
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The reason that so little has been done about global warming is that those nations who can potentially gain economically from the new technology – and whose populations are willing to take the risks to invent them – actually have much less power than they think they do, both over the global economy and over the climate.

The truly powerful nations – Australia, the Gulf oil states, and South Africa – have the highest per capita emissions in the world and huge economic advantages from the status quo – not only for their rulers, but for ordinary people who gain extremely low-tax energy and cheaper agriculture than the much younger and more suitable soils of Eurasia and the Americas. Greenhouse emissions being drastically cut depends upon these nations, but it is politically out of bounds for their mineral and oil corporations to accept necessary enormous investment in public transit and renewable energy and hugely increased fuel taxes.
Julien Peter Benney, Carlton North, Victoria, Australia
12/01/2016 17:57
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These boreal forest soils will burn too and are not suited to agriculture in either case. Climate change of this magnitude is not positive.
Greg, USA
08/01/2016 13:39
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The positive side is that there are thousands of new hectares being opened for agriculture so Russia will feed a great part of the World.
Enrique, Spain
06/01/2016 10:35
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