Climate Crisis: Ground Temperatures Reaches 118 Degrees in the Arctic Circle

The climate crisis that is currently taking place will not spare Siberia. Newly published satellite imagery reveals the ground temperature in at least one region in Siberia topped 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) going into the longest day of the year.

(Photo : Getty Images)

Ground Temperatures 

It's hot Siberia Earth summer, and it definitely won't be the last. While many heads turn to the American West as cities like Salt Lake City and Phoenix experienced unexpectedly hot temperatures this past week, a similar climatological aberrance unraveled on the opposite side of the earth in the Arctic Circle.

That's not strange when you consider that the planet heating up is a universal affair, one that isn't fussy about its targets. We're all the target! The European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel satellites measured 118-degree-Fahrenheit temperature on the ground in Verkhojansk, in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia.

Other ground temperatures in the area included 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in Govorovo and 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Saskylah, which had its highest temperatures since 1936. It's crucial to note that the temperatures being talked about here are land surface temperatures, not air temperatures.

Also Read: Death Valley Temperature Reaches Scorching 128F as Heat Wave Continues

Chasms in the Earth 

The air temperature in Verkhojansk was 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) - still strangely hot, but not Arizona hot. But the ground temperature being so warm is still not good. Those temperatures trouble the permafrost - the frozen soil of yore, which carries greenhouse gases and on which much of eastern Russia is built. As permafrost defrost, it sighs its methane back into the atmosphere, bringing about chasms in the Earth.

Apart from the deleterious effects of more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the permafrost melting makes the Siberian earth unstable, unsettling building foundations and bringing about landslides. It also leaves the frozen carcasses of many Ice Age mammals bare, implying paleontologists have to work quickly to study the species that flourished when the planet was much colder.

(Photo : Getty Images)

The Hottest Temperature Recorded in Siberia 

For all the talk of reanimating the woolly mammoth, one's got to recall: the place they were knew of is long gone.The same area also suffered through a heat wave that brought about a very un-Siberian air temperature reading of 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) precisely one year ago to the day from the new freak heat.

It's the hottest temperature that has ever been recorded in the area. It was also in the 90s last month in western Siberia, making a reflection that the sweltering new abnormal is affecting just about every place. And it's not only the permafrost that is suffering; wildfires last year in Siberia discharged a record amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making sure more summers like this are to come. 

Related Article: Study: Global Temperatures Will Rise By 2 Degrees Due to Gases Released

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