Emissions from the forest fires in Canada, which have been raging since early May, are the highest ever recorded by Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation Program, which analyzes the planet and its environment. And they are already being felt in Europe, degrading the air quality in Europe since the second week of June.
“They started in the western part of the country, but later expanded to the eastern regions, leading to a total of about 160 megatons of carbon emissions, which is now the highest estimated total annual emissions for Canada,” it said. you can read in the Copernicus statement.
Therefore, it is likely that in the coming days, also in Portugal, the cloudy sky and the sunset will continue to be observed with red and orange tones. However, the smoke is not expected to have a significant impact on surface air quality.
“Our tracking of the scale and persistence of wildfire emissions in Canada since early May has shown how unusual this has been compared to the two decades of our data set. The current tracking is not unusual and is not expected have a significant impact on surface air.” quality in Europe, but it is a clear reflection of the intensity of the fires that such high optical depth values for aerosols and other pollutants associated with the plume are so high when it reaches this side of the Atlantic,” explained Mark Parrington, Copernicus Scientist, on the same note.
Smoke from the fires in Canada has covered several islands in the Azores in recent hours and has spread to the mainland. In the note, the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere explained that the smoke cloud “consists of very small particles (< 2.5 micrometers) and gases (especially carbon monoxide)".
Since the beginning of the year, 2,911 fires have been recorded in Canada and more than five million hectares have burned. The country requested international help to fight the fires and Portugal, under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, sent 140 operatives to Quebec, one of the regions most affected by the strong wave of fires.
Source: TSF
