Kyrios
Credit: Greenpeace - Forest Fire near Irkutsk Region in Russia / 9 Aug 2019
crisis interventions

Trouble In The Arctic – Wildfires Raging Across Countries Encircling The North Pole

What are Crisis Interventions?These are brief undertakings where Kyrios takes action to avert or lessen the severity of a disaster in a bid to reduce loss of lives and destruction.

Overview

Wildfires had been raging for months across countries around the Arctic Circle this year. This region constantly experiences cold temperatures and is covered by ice almost all year round so it is deeply concerning that wildfires have taken root here. Since the beginning of 2019, at the world’s largest forest in Siberia, over 13 million hectares have been burnt, of which 5.1 million hectares alone were in July. Both June and July were our planet’s hottest months on record.

Outcome

Kyrios brought forth persistent rainfall between 14 August to 6 September 2019 to extinguish wildfires in Siberia's boreal forest, despite forecasts of no rain till October. Heavy rainfall also enabled the lands to regenerate.

Crisis Situation

  • Over 13 million hectares burnt in Siberia
  • June and July were the hottest month on record for the planet
  • In July, more than 79 megatons of CO2 was released
  • 197 billion tons of water released due to Greenland's ice melts
  • Smoke from the Siberia wildfires spanned an area larger than the European Union

Timeline of Events

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Fires across the Arctic released a record 50 megatons of CO2 in June — equivalent to Sweden’s total annual emissions and more than the past eight Junes combined — and 79 megatons in July, according to NASA. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service wrote that “Arctic wildfires are especially worrisome as particulate matter settles…and darkens the ice, leading to sunlight being absorbed rather than reflected, which could exacerbate global warming.” Hundreds of this year’s Siberian fires were north of the Arctic Circle, meaning more particles were expected to land on the ice sheets.

Unfortunately, smoke from wildfires in the central and eastern regions of Siberia, which at one point covered an area larger than the European Union, have already spreaded to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. This will further exacerbate Greenland’s massive ice melts, which have already released 197 billion tons of water into the Atlantic Ocean in the month of July alone. Scientists expected such a scale of ice melt to only happen 50 years from now.

Pyotr Tsvetkov, who runs the forest fire lab at the Sukachev Forest Institute in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, said, “We’re waiting for rain…Fires this powerful won’t be extinguished by even a strong downpour, they need rainy weather, but that’s not in the forecast.” As such, Siberia forests would likely burn until October 2019 when rain or the first snow arrives.

Kyrios became aware of the Siberian wildfires on 11 August 2019. At that time, several threatening wildfires encircling the polar region – in Greenland, Alaska and Canada – were also brought to Kyrios’ attention. While in other parts of the world, another major crisis was unfolding as the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil was being set ablaze by farmers and ranchers. Spain (Gran Canaria), Australia (Victoria) and Africa (Congo) were also experiencing wildfires.

Wildfires that had been burning across the world:

Arctic Region

Rest of the world

Kyrios decided to intervene in the wildfires in the aforementioned countries, with greater focus on Siberia and Amazon, and forecasted that, “From 15 August to 6 September 2019, rains will fall upon these fires and extinguish them.”

After more than three weeks of Kyrios’ tireless interventions, raging wildfires in most of these countries were successfully contained, while some were given a much needed respite.


Why did Kyrios intervene? Kyrios explains the science of the dangers of the wildfires

Kyrios explained the gravity of the situation and why it is important that these wildfires not be allowed to continue. These wildfires were encircling the Arctic Circle and destroying boreal forests that are Earth’s vital carbon sink. The wildfires were also seriously disrupting the natural balance of our planet’s geological and climate system, as well as its biogeochemical cycle. As scientists have already alluded to, not only will there be more carbon released into the atmosphere, the smoke released will also exacerbate ice melt, causing sea level to rise, more heavy rainfall events, violent hurricane seasons, storm surges, and so on, to inundate coastal regions and low-lying areas globally.

Kyrios also added that when trees are destroyed, the soil loses its symbiotic relationship with the trees that help sustain its ecosystem. When the soil ecosystem is damaged, soil transpiration, a natural process in which clean air is released after it has been cleansed by the soil ecosystem of dust and other pollutants, can no longer take place. The damaged soil will not be able to sustain life for years. Kyrios also warned that damaged soil will sink, and result in sinkholes that could appear even in places beyond the wildfires.

In addition, Kyrios shared that what is possibly unknown yet to science is how severe heat from wildfires can travel downwards in the ground thereby increasing temperatures deep within the Earth. This can inadvertently lead to increased geothermal heat and volcanism in locations beyond the fires – even dormant volcanoes can become active again. Kyrios said that Earth has a natural process of moderating heat in its mantle and core by releasing heat through vents such as volcanoes, undersea hydrothermal vents and hot springs. Kyrios added that while we can only see the smoke and fires above ground, the bigger danger is what’s unseen and happening underground.

As Earth’s bedrock becomes warmer, it can then cause the bottom of ice sheets to melt and also deep ocean waters to warm even more. Kyrios warned that ocean waters can also warm when heat from the wildfires spreads laterally underground to the edges of the continents and is transferred from land to water, leading to polar ice melting at faster rates. We can only expect more erratic and extreme weather and climate events to threaten human civilization as higher temperatures and reduced salinity of the ocean water affect the dynamics of our ocean currents globally.

How did Kyrios contain the wildfires around the Arctic Circle and in other parts of the world?

Kyrios was born with this ability, and together with a thorough understanding of Earth’s natural systems, as well as of the cosmic systems, Kyrios is able to influence complex weather systems that enables the onset of heavy and sustained rains in the areas of concern.

Satellite data from NASA showing drastic reduction in wildfires following Kyrios' intervention. Red spots denote active wildfires across Siberia, Russia. Slide left to compare the difference between (before Kyrios' intervention), and following Kyrios' intervention.

Satellite data from NASA showing rains sweeping precisely across wildfires during Kyrios' intervention. Watch the playback of rains between (before Kyrios' intervention), and following Kyrios' intervention.

Will this happen again?

Unfortunately, yes. Kyrios can only help to provide temporary relief for climate crises but the interventions do not solve the underlying causes of the problems, which are human activities. Government policies, political agendas, business practices, personal lifestyle choices, and even our life philosophies, will all have an impact on our Earth.

TIMELINE

10 August 2019 - Sat

Aerosols from Siberian fires stretched 3000km

On this day, smoke emitted by wildfires in Siberia, as indicated by aerosols seen on NASA WorldView, spanned more than 3,000km east to west, which is almost equivalent to the distance from Singapore to China. Imagine thick, choking haze covering Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, and China. This is how widespread the smoke from the wildfires are.

Rains were limited or have not been helpful in putting out fires

From July to early August 2019, rains were either scarce or they have mostly been encircling the wildfires. This allowed the wildfires to continue burning, thereby escalating the crisis.

Figure: Press the "Play" button to watch rain and wildfires in Siberia between 25 July 2019 and 10 August 2019. You'll notice that rain has not prevented the spread of the wildfires

11 August 2019 - Sun

⭐️ Kyrios begins effort to bring rain to wildfires in Siberia, despite no weather forecasts of rain

Kyrios is alarmed by the number of fires burning in the Siberian forests, especially by the extent of smoke blanketing the Arctic region. Leaving the Siberian wildfires alone and unabated would spell severe consequences for polar ice and global warming. To make matters worse, other forests were also burning in countries around the Arctic Circle, thus putting the Arctic ice at increased risk of melting.

Russia has declared a state of emergency in the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Sakha and Buryatia regions as fires burn out of control. President Vladimir Putin sent in the army to help firefighters and even Donald Trump took notice, offering help to battle what Greenpeace Russia says are on track to be the worst Siberian forest fires on record. However, the fires are mostly in remote and hard to reach places that only rain can resolve this crisis. Firefighters could only work on extinguishing less than 4% of the active fires.

Pyotr Tsvetkov, who runs the forest fire lab at the Sukachev Forest Institute in Krasnoyarsk, said, "We're waiting for rain. Fires this powerful won't be extinguished by even a strong downpour, they need rainy weather, but that's not in the forecast."

Kyrios decides to intervene immediately by directing rains to fall on inaccessible fire zones in Siberia, against the weather forecasts of "no rainy weather".

12 August 2019 - Mon

Smoke cloud from wildfires bigger than EU

The World Meteorological Organisation estimated the area of the smoke cloud emitted by the wildfires to be around 5 million km², which is bigger than the size of the EU.

13 August 2019 - Tue

Wildfire smoke to cross Arctic Ocean and reach Greenland

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) predicts that the smoke will cross the Arctic Ocean and reach northern Greenland on 13 - 14 August.

14 August 2019 - Wed

Widespread rainfall sweeps directly across where it's needed most

Within a short span of 4 days upon Kyrios' intervention, satellite imagery has captured large swathes of rain that started to form at the western side of Siberia which then swept directly across the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Zabaykalsk and Buryatia regions, covering a vast area of more than 1.2 million km2 – about 4 times the size of Italy. Most fires in the south of Siberia were swiftly put out by the intense rainfall, while fires in the central and north continue to burn.

Figure: Fires before intervention on (top) and after 4 days of intervention on (bottom)

⭐️ Kyrios: "From 15 Aug to 6 Sep 2019, rains will extinguish these fires."

As wildfires continue to burn the Russian taiga forests and in countries across the globe, Kyrios comments that, "From 15 August 2019 until 6 September 2019, rains will extinguish these fires."

This signifies that Kyrios would be actively monitoring and taking actions to intervene and put out the fires by 6 Sep 2019.

Intervention on Amazon Rainforest fires begins!

Read about Kyrios' concurrent fire-fighting efforts in Brazil as Kyrios commences intervention to put out fires in the Amazonian Rainforests on this day.

15 August 2019 - Thu

Forecasts reiterates that fires will only be put out by rains or snow in October

NASA – The largest and most potent area of fire on this day seems to be in the Sakha Republic (also known as Yakutia) where the Federal Forestry Agency notes 155 fires covering 880,224 ha (8,800 km²) are burning. This is the area where the accumulation of smoke is most dense, although smoke continues to be thick throughout the entire landscape. The Krasnoyarsk Territory is a close second with 844,771 ha (8,450 km²) on fire. Most likely the fires not actively being fought will only be put out with the rains that come in October or the first snow.

Satellite images from NASA Worldview (see below) showed fires not only in the above-mentioned places, but they can also be seen burning along a stretch spanning over 2,000 km from Krasnoyarsk all the way to northeast Sakha, near Batagay. Kyrios comments that bringing rain to fall upon such a long stretch of fire is challenging.

16 August 2019 - Fri

⭐️ Continuous downpours put out more fires! Kyrios shifts attention to the northeast

As the wildfires that were still burning in the central parts of Siberia on 14 Aug are being put out by the continuous downpours in the last 2 days, Kyrios begins to shift focus towards the intense cluster of wildfires in the northeastern region of the Sakha Republic.

Figure: Observe the central parts of Siberia where the number of wildfires have reduced. Slide left/right to compare between and

17 August 2019 - Sat

Rains move towards northeast of Sakha

Following Kyrios' intervention to direct rains to the northeast yesterday, rain can be seen approaching the Sakha region near to Batagay.

18 August 2019 - Sun

Rains continue to sweep across the Siberia forest

Fires at the Sakha region are greatly reduced although they are not fully put out yet. Rain continues to encroach upon fires that are still burning elsewhere. A spectacular band of rain stretching ~2,000 km long can be seen pouring across Siberia.

Several fires in Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsk and Sakha continue to burn.

20 August 2019 - Tue

⭐️ The battle heats up

While the wildfires in Zabaykalsk have been extinguished, fires in Sakha, near Batagay, have worsened. Numerous fires in Krasnoyarsk are still burning. As such, Kyrios will focus on bringing more rainfall to these areas.

Figure: Slide left/right to compare between and

22 August 2019 - Thu

Finally, clear skies in a long while

Most fires that appeared over the last 2 days near Batagay and the Krasnoyarsk region were quickly extinguished. Kyrios will continue to monitor and put out the remaining fires, and extinguish new ones as and when they appear.

Figure: Slide left/right to compare wildfire hotspots between and

Compared to the situation prior to intervention about 2 weeks ago, when smoke from the blazes shrouded an area larger than the European Union, the skies are mostly clear today.

Figure: Slide left/right to compare aerosols/smoke and wildfire hotspots between and

24 August 2019 - Sat

New fires appear

Numerous fires have started again in Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Thankfully, rain can be seen above Irkutsk shortly after the fires appeared.

25 August 2019 - Sat

Fires intensify in Krasnoyarsk

The number of fires in Krasnoyarsk have increased, hopefully rains will quickly extinguish them again.

30 August 2019 - Sat

Krasnoyarsk fires

It took a few rounds of rain over the past few days to put out the multiple fires in Krasnoyarsk but finally most of the fires are out. New fires had begun to appear again in Irkutsk, Zabaykalsk and Sakha.

6 September 2019 - Fri

End of intervention, fires out!

Most of the fires are out today as Kyrios forecasted on 14 Aug. Over the past week, rains swiftly extinguished fires as soon as they appeared.

Since Kyrios first began intervention on 11 Aug, we have seen rains continuously sweep over areas of concern whenever it surfaces – like a game of "catching" between rain and fire. Kyrios' tireless efforts to direct rains to Siberia earlier than forecasts have paid off. Otherwise, the prolonged burning of the forests would not only have exacerbated global warming and the melting of Arctic ice, the smoke would have also continued to endanger the health of people living in Russia.

Figure: Press the "Play" button to watch how rain extinguished wildfires from to

Figure: Slide left/right to compare the aerosols/smoke and wildfires between and

Kyrios says that the geological structure of areas in Siberia affected by the wildfire have been seriously damaged and heavy rain is needed to seep deep into the earth to help it recover. Therefore, Kyrios says that rains will continue to help recover the burnt grounds.

Majority of the fires in the Amazon have also been put out by Kyrios today, while other wildfires in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Spain (Canary Islands) and Australia had been put out before 6 September 2019.

30 September 2019 - Mon

Update: Authorities says, Siberian wildfires are fully extinguished

"There are no forest fires on Russian territory as of midnight Sept. 30," the Aerial Forest Protection Service, a government agency, announced.

Although authorities have only officially announced that Siberian wildfires are fully extinguished today, no major fires have been seen on NASA Worldview since 6 September.

Crisis Interventions

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