Popular Science — Lightning strikes could double in the Arctic this century, setting the tundra on fire

Climate change is driving the increase in Arctic lightning, creating a nightmarish positive feedback loop.
Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Over the course of 2019 and 2020, hundreds of fires burned in the tundra of Siberia, releasing stores of carbon similar to the entire annual emissions of France. As the Arctic continues to warm, similar fires are likely to become more common: lightning, one of the few firestarters in the far north, is becoming more common.

The Department of Earth System Science acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.