Hundreds of wildfires have broken out all across the Arctic Circle. Areas in the Arctic are warming as fast as anywhere on the planet. There are so many fires and they are so big that the from them can be seen from space. Meteorologists report that the Arctic is having its hottest June ever and is suffering its wildfire season on . There are huge blazes covering large of Greenland, Siberia, Scandinavia and Alaska. In Alaska, there are as as 400 fires burning out of control. In Greenland, melting on the Greenland ice sheet has started a month earlier than . The World Meteorological Organization has said the Arctic fires are "unprecedented".
Scientists say the fires and smoke could have an on global warming. Meteorologist Mark Parrington explained what is causing the wildfires. He said: "Temperatures in the Arctic have been increasing at a much faster than the global average, and warmer conditions encourage fires to grow and persist they have been ignited." Dry ground, more lightning strikes and winds have caused the fires to spread very quickly. A lot of has melted and the flames have set fire to methane-filled earth below the ice. This is releasing huge of carbon dioxide into the . The fires have also caused serious habitat and have killed uncountable numbers of .
