Hazy sunsets across Europe have record-breaking wildfires burning in Western Canada to blame, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).
Wildfire smoke from Canada has been crossing the North Atlantic since Aug. 10 and reached Western Europe on Aug. 17, resulting in high levels of particulate matter and aerosols like smoke particles in Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, and Scandinavia.
“Evaluation of the CAMS forecasts against independent Aeronet measurements shows good agreement in the timing and magnitude of the [aerosol optical depth] evaluations at several sites, including Cork in Ireland, Camborne in the United Kingdom, and Brest and Arcachon in France,” the service said Tuesday.
The Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba recorded their highest wildfire carbon emissions for any August ever in the service’s Global Fire Assimilation System, CAMS reported Tuesday.
British Columbia and Alberta dominated emissions totals for Canada in July, but the number of wildfires and emissions increased sharply in the Northwest Territories through August following heatwaves across the region. Saskatchewan emissions are estimated at over 11 megatonnes for August alone, while Manitoba is currently at over 5 megatonnes.
The new records push Canada’s total estimated August emissions near the level of 2023, when the country experienced its highest emissions since 2023.
“As a result, 2024 is already one of the most extreme years of the last two decades for Canada and is set to be second only to 2023 in terms of emissions,” CAMS researchers said. “The total estimated wildfire carbon emissions in Northwest Territories from 1 January to 19 August exceed 70 megatonnes and are only behind 2023 and 2014 in terms of the annual total fire emissions for the territory.”
