Earth from Space: A green Siberia

Siberia is highlighted in this Envisat image acquired on 7 August 2006. An enormous area in north Asia, Siberia spreads from the Urals in the west to the Okhotsk Sea in the east, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China in the south.

Western Siberia, which has warmed by about 3 degrees Celsius in the last 40 years, is home to the world’s largest peat bogs (wet, spongy ground composed chiefly of moss and decomposing vegetation) – roughly the size of France and Germany combined. According to scientific studies released in August 2005, the frozen bogs began thawing last year for the first time in 11 000 years.
The bogs contain billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases – such as methane and carbon dioxide – which could be released into the atmosphere if the bogs thaw. Because increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can accelerate global warming, climate scientists have warned that future global temperature predictions may have to be revised.

ESA