Wildfires recorded in Europe and the United Kingdom between June 1 and August 31 this year produced 6.4 megatonnes of carbon, the highest level for this period since the summer of 2007, with Spain and France the two countries with the highest emissions, according to EU reports. Copernicus System (CAMS).
According to data from the Global Fire Data Absorption System (GFAS) of the Copernicus Atmosphere Watch Service, the combination of heat waves and prolonged drought conditions in Western Europe has increased fire activity, intensity and persistence.
The emissions recorded this summer stemmed “largely” from devastating wildfires in the Iberian Peninsula and southwest France, according to GFAS, with Spain and France among the regions with the highest emissions in the past 20 years.
The EAM system obtains data thanks to satellite monitoring of forest fire locations, fire radiative strength (FRP) – a measure of intensity for estimating emissions of pollutants in smoke – and the resulting emissions and outcomes. The impact on the air quality of these disasters in Europe and elsewhere on the planet.
In other areas of the Northern Hemisphere, where wildfire activity typically peaks during the summer, total estimated emissions have been much lower compared to recent years, despite some devastating fires.
In North America, wildfires that broke out in Alaska in May continued through June and early July, with large fires burning in the Yukon and Canada’s Northwest Territories.
In the western United States, daily fire intensity and overall seasonal emissions were much lower in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana than in the summers of 2020 and 2021 and were more common at the time of year, according to GFAS data.
In the Amazon, during the second half of August, daily emissions from fires were above average in part of Brazil (nine states and one in part), resulting in one of the highest levels of total emissions estimated for the period since. 2010 (with 2019-2021).
It was Amazonas that recorded above-average fire emissions, making July and August totals the second-highest (after only 2021) in the past 20 years.
In addition, according to the European system, in the early days of September there was a clear increase in fires throughout the Amazon region, with daily values being much higher than the average in many Amazon states, causing smoke to appear. It covers a very large area of South America.
They noted that the Competence Assurance Management System continues to closely monitor fire and smoke emissions across the region.
In addition, the total estimated emissions from fires in the Central Federal District of Russia were the highest since the large peat fires that affected western Russia in 2010.
This situation was due to the fact that the Sakha Republic and the Chukotka Autonomous Region, in the Far East of Russia, did not suffer from fires as in the last summer, since most of the fires recorded this summer were declared in the south, in Khabarovsk Krai.
Meanwhile, in the more central and western regions of Russia, such as the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region and the Ryazan Region, there were an increasing number of forest fires that caused several days of thick smoke and deteriorating air quality.
Data on emissions from fires is known one day before tomorrow’s celebration of Air Quality Day.
EFE
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