Astronauts express distress in witnessing climate crisis from International Space Station

It's no secret that our earth is currently on fire, both literally and metaphorically. In fact, some flames have grown so huge that they can now be seen from orbit, providing an unpleasant glimpse into our impending doom. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur recounted the bleak reality of being stationed on the International Space Station while the Earth is in the chaos below on a recent call with Insider.

  Astronauts are saddened to watch the climate crisis

McArthur told the outlet, "We've been really distressed to see flames throughout big portions of the Earth, not just the United States."

Wildfires are raging in the United States, Canada, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Algeria, and Siberia. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, McArthur's crewmate, has tweeted photographs of the fires from above.  One of the most prominent manifestations of the climate issue is wildfires. They've coincided with historic heat waves and the worst drought in the western United States in the US Drought Monitor's 20-year history.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur on Climate Change

According to new research from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "fire weather" across North America, Central America, portions of South America, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, North Asia, Australia, and New Zealand would likely increase by 2050, said reports. That means there will be more days when the weather is warm, dry, and windy enough to start and sustain wildfires. As rising temperatures cause the air to absorb more moisture and produce more droughts, the amount of fuel available to burn in those regions - dry vegetation - is also likely to increase, according to reports. 

The IPCC report, which was issued on Monday, is the first part of the group's sixth assessment, which enlists the help of hundreds of experts to examine years of climate change research. Global temperatures will almost probably climb by at least 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average by 2040, according to these researchers. This may seem insignificant, but it has far-reaching consequences across the globe, including the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.

This contributes to sea-level rise, and because water expands as it warms, oceans will almost certainly continue to rise until the end of the century. Oceans will rise about a foot in the next 80 years, according to the IPCC scientists' best-case scenario. But, according to the research, there is still time to avoid 2 degrees Celsius of warming and the far more disastrous effects that would result.

Picture Credit: @Thom_astro/Twitter