http://www.wildnatureimages.com/S%20to%20Z/TEK-SUMMER-2..jpg
Siberian Summer today.

According to "www.cosmicelk.net":

Around 45 to 55 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was a warm shallow sea with a climate, supporting plants and creatures on a warm tropical climate. This was at a time of global warming, when the amount of carbon di-oxide in the atmosphere was far higher than it is today. At this time Siberia reached as far north as the Lomonosov Ridge, today an underwater mountain chain which stretches across from just east of the Lena river delta to Greenland.

Today the Arctic ocean is always covered by ice, which only melts around the north coast of Siberia for a few weeks at the height of summer.

These discoveries revealed by cores drilled through the ice and sediments are not only interesting but relevant today, The past 30 years, the polar ice has thinned and carbon di-oxide levels have risen. Since the Arctic Ocean plays an important role in the global climate system, these studies are critical today. The cold current from the Arctic ocean, drives the ocean conveyor belt of continuous currents around the planet.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/12000/12179/aqua_siberia_16sep03.jpg
Today, carbon di-oxide levels are rising thanks to human intervention. Several large fires in northeastern Russia are billowing massive smoke clouds over the East Siberia Sea. In Siberia, the soil is made of thick layers of peat, dead organic material that is slow to decay in the frigid temperatures. When this material catches fire, it produces huge amounts of smoke.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/12000/12177/Russia.TMOA2003253.jpg
During September, 2003, several large Siberian fires have been detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite sensor .
Source(s):
http://www.cosmicelk.net/Siberiahistory1.htm

http://images.google.com.co/imgres?imgurl=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/...

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