Massive wildfires in Canada have already emitted twice as much smoke as the previous whole-year record, according to the EU’s climate monitor, with the blazes expected to continue scorching their way through forests for weeks or even months.
Massive wildfires in Canada
So far this year, devastating wildfires have burned 30 million acres, incinerating an area larger than Cuba or South Korea.
Massive plumes of smoke have choked the air in Canada and the neighboring United States, affecting over 100 million people and occasionally disrupting flights and forcing the cancellation of outdoor events.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) in Europe said it had been tracking the fires since the season began in early May, as the blazes scorched across large areas of the country.
As of the end of July, total carbon emissions for the year had surpassed double that of total annual smoke pollution in 2014, the previous record year.
CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parrington said the fire emissions had “continued to increase almost continuously to a level which is already considerably higher than the previous annual total fire emissions for Canada in our dataset”.
“As fire emissions from boreal regions typically peak at the end of July and early August, the total is still likely to continue rising for some more weeks and we will continue to monitor.”
Wildfires typically burn in the Northern Hemisphere from May to October, with peaks in July and August, which coincide with the hottest and driest months of the year. This year has seen widespread, record-breaking wildfires in Canada, as well as major fires in Russia.
Recently, wildfires have raged further north, including in the Arctic Circle, resulting in “significant smoke emissions,” according to CAMS.
According to CAMS, which keeps records going back to 2003, total wildfire carbon emissions from Canada are currently around 290 megatons, up from 138 megatons in 2014.
Canada is one of the fastest-warming regions on the planet, and climate change has increased the severity and frequency of the country’s extreme weather events.
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