As millions of people in New York and other major North American cities choke on acrid smoke, they could point their accusatory fingers farther North than the wildfires ravaging Quebec — all the way to the global Arctic.
Rising temperatures in the region are contributing to the weather conditions that make wildfires more likely to occur, especially in higher and middle latitudes, experts say.
Global warming releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, raising temperatures, which dries out forests and raises the risk of wildfires. The top of the planet is warming much faster than the global average — at four times the rate, by some estimates — and that pace is accelerating as reflective ice, which shields the Earth from some of the sun’s heat, melts and permafrost thaws, releasing still more CO2.
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