Pictures of the year: Environment

A whirlwind of hot ash and embers moves through a wildfire, dubbed the Cave Fire, burning in the hills of Santmore

Research technician Danielle Lasseigne cuts a Pseudodiploria strigosa coral with a steel chisel to remove the more

Guajajara Indians "forest guardians" detain a logger during a search for illegal loggers on Arariboia indigenomore

A woman looks at a view of Seoul shrouded by fine dust during a polluted day in Seoul, South Korea, March 6, 2more

A shepherd takes rest under a tree on a dried-up lake on the outskirts of Chennai, India, June 27, 2019. REUTEmore

Parts of the Gurschengletscher glacier are covered with tarps near the peak of Mount Gemsstock (2,961 m/ 9,715more

A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers in Rio Pardo, Rondonia, Brazil September 15, 2019. more

Swedish 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg sails on the Malizia II racing yacht in New York Harbor as she neamore

A lightning bolt strikes the sea near Fort St Elmo during a storm in Valletta, Malta February 27, 2019. REUTERmore

Lava spurts from the Stromboli volcano after an eruption unleashed a plume of smoke on the island of Strombolimore

A boy sits by the swimming pool at the Israeli settlement of Vered Yericho in the occupied West Bank Septembermore

Oscar Limachi, 48, a member of the local Qewaya community who works as a tour guide on Lake Titicaca, poses fomore

A view of a deforested area at the National Forest Bom Futuro in Rio Pardo, Rondonia state, Brazil, September more

A woman sits by the door of her shop during a period of seasonal high water in Venice, Italy, November 17, 201more

Indigenous people from the Mura tribe show a deforested area in unmarked indigenous lands inside the Amazon ramore

A dancer poses for her own photographer in front of pink cherry tree blossoms during a sunny spring morning atmore

A woman tries to catch snowflakes with her tongue during a snowfall on Chandragiri Hills in Kathmandu, Nepal Jmore

A woman relaxes on the beach as temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius at Deauville, France July 23, 2019. REmore

An armadillo, which was blinded by the heat from a fire according to veterinarian Jerjes Suarez, walks on the more

A villager sits on a stool inside a tire as he rows himself through a flooded field along a river, following hmore

Drops of dew sit on a spider web in the early morning mist in Los Angeles, California, August 19, 2019. REUTERmore

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen in the sky in Ivalo, Lapland, Finland September 27, 2019. REUTERmore

A hiker walks in the Zillertal Alps during an autumn day near the village of Ginzling, Austria, October 15, 20more

A large volcanic ash and gas plume rises above the Kuril Islands in the North Pacific Ocean after an unexpectemore

A frog is pictured on a lotus leaf in a pond after rain in Lalitpur, Nepal September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Navesh more

A woman sits in a super bloom of poppies in Lake Elsinore, California, February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholsmore

Fisherman Jose da Cruz, who is known by the nickname Vampire because of his distinctive teeth, catches crabs imore

Hindu women worship the sun god in the polluted waters of the river Yamuna during the Hindu religious festivalmore

A dead red-tailed monkey hangs by its tail above the ground, in order to keep it away from ants, in the forestmore

Plastic waste is pictured at the bottom of the sea off the island of Andros, Greece, July 20, 2019. REUTERS/Stmore

A fire burns on Saddleworth Moor near the town of Diggle, Britain, February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Super

A woman carries her son in a bucket after collecting water from a municipal water tanker on the outskirts of Cmore

Trees are lit by a flame in the Yarakta Oil Field, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company in Irkutsk Region, Russia Marcmore

A Palestinian man washes his horse in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea as people swim on a hot day in the nmore

A heron is seen near the Sevres river in Vertou near Nantes, France, September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerlanmore

Horses run on the grassland of Ujimqin in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China July 21, 2019. REUTERS/Strinmore

The moon is seen beside a quadriga on the top of the Cinquantenaire arch during a total lunar eclipse, known amore

Cockle-picker and fisherman Tony McClure, 39, uses his cockling board to raise cockles from the sands in Flookmore

The carcass of a cow lies along a tract of the Amazon jungle as it is cleared by loggers and farmers in Porto more

Visitors take pictures of a fox in the abandoned city of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukramore

Seal hunter Henrik Josvasson jumps back onto his boat after searching for puffin eggs near the town of Tasiilamore

Giant fennel plants are seen on a hillside overlooking Gnejna Bay, outside the village of Mgarr, Malta March 5more

Winter outdoor sports enthusiast Olesya Ushakova throws hot water into subzero air during sunset outside the Smore

Diane Cohen, 64, who was forced to leave her home when the Kilauea Volcano erupted and covered it with lava inmore

Hoarfrost-covered trees are seen on a mountain outside Almaty, Kazakhstan November 6, 2019. REUTERS/Pavel Mikhmore

An aerial view of logs illegally cut from Amazon rainforest are seen in sawmills near Humaita, Amazonas State,more

Cars lie on a riverbank after heavy rainfall in Tafalla, Spain, July 9, 2019. REUTERS/Susana Vera

A girl runs towards her bicycle, accompanied by a relative, on a beach in Guaruja, Sao Paulo state, Brazil Junmore