Greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires in Europe this summer reached the highest value in 15 years, according to data collected by the Copernicus satellite observation system.
“The devastating fires in Europe this summer caused the highest emissions since 2007,” concluded scientists from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), who have observed daily emissions and impacts on air quality, both in Europe as elsewhere.
In information released this Tuesday, CAMS highlights that the combination of a heat wave in August with prolonged dry conditions in Western Europe, resulted in an increase in the intensity and persistence of forest fires.
Total emissions from EU and UK bushfires between June 1 and August 31, 2022, were estimated at 6.4 megatonnes of carbon, the highest level for those months since the summer of 2007.
Recorded emissions for the summer of 2022 were largely driven by the devastating wildfires in southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula, with France and Spain recording the highest wildfire emissions in the last 20 years. European system in communication.
In other regions of the Northern Hemisphere, generally hit by peak fires in the summer, emissions were lower, despite some devastating fires.
Russia’s far east was not as devastated by fire as in previous summers, but Russia’s more central and western regions “suffered an increased number of wildfires,” resulting in several days of heavy smoke and “air quality.” degraded”.
“The estimated total emissions from the fires in the Central Federal District of Russia were the highest since the massive peat fires that affected western Russia in 2010,” the document reads.
In North America, wildfires that started in Alaska in May continued into June and early July, with large fires burning in the Yukon and Canada’s Northwest Territories.
In the western United States, total daily fire intensity and total seasonal emissions were “much lower” for California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana compared to the summers of 2020 and 2021 and were “more typical” for the season of the year, according to the CAMERAS.
The fires in the Amazon, in the second half of August, caused “one of the highest total emissions estimated for the period since 2010 (along with 2019-2021).
The state of Amazonas had “well above average” emissions, resulting in the second highest total from July to August (after 2021) in the last 20 years.
“The first days of September saw clear increases in fires throughout the Amazon region, with daily values well above average in several Amazonian states, creating a “large area of smoke in South America”.
Source: TSF
