Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future

by Neil Shubin

On June 20, 2021, two European satellites recorded a temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit on the ground in the Arctic of Siberia. That same summer, hundreds of wildfires scorched the Siberian countryside and blackened villages with smoke. These so-called zombie fires were the rekindled remains of fires from the previous year. With carbon-rich peat underground, the fires had smoldered for months under the ice. The following month, in July 2021, three successive thunderstorms formed in the Arctic. Typically lacking the heat needed to generate thunderstorms, the Arctic is usually free of them. But since 2010 the incidents of summer lightning there have tripled. In recent years, lightning even has struck within 60 miles of the North Pole.