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Newsflash Reading 03/09/2020

The summer of wildfires raging across the Arctic Circle have already broken last year’s emission records with smoke plumes covering the equivalent of more than a third of Canada, confirm scientists from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).

Scientists from CAMS, which is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission, monitor daily wildfire activity across the globe, based on satellite observations of their intensity and estimated emissions. This process enables CAMS to build-up a longer-term picture of fire activity.

Using data from the CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS), scientists have estimated that this year’s CO2 emissions from the Arctic Circle fires have increased by just over a third compared with 2019. From 1st January to 31st August 2020, the estimated CO2 emissions for the region were 244 megatonnes, compared to 181 megatonnes for the whole of 2019.

Most of the increased wildfire activity has been seen in Russia’s Sakha Republic, decimating millions of acres of land and creating a large spike in CO2 emissions from 208 megatonnes in 2019 to 395 megatonnes in 2020. While the ignition sources are uncertain and difficult to pin down, some of fires early in the season are thought to have been caused by so-called ‘zombie fires’ which may have been smouldering underground during the winter months.

According to the CAMS GFAS data, while the peak of the Arctic fire season was in July and early August, Sakha Republic and Chukotka still experienced above average daily total wildfire intensity in August. Between June and August, the fires in the Eastern Federal District of Russia emitted a total of approximately 540 megatonnes of CO2, which surpasses the previous highest total emissions, for the year 2003, in the GFAS dataset.

Meanwhile, a large region of the southwestern USA has been experiencing its own wildfire problems due to heatwave conditions with large plumes of smoke observed moving eastward across the Great Lakes towards the North Atlantic. California, in particular has been experiencing widespread wildfire activity, including the 2nd and 3rd worst fires in state history.

Mainly situated in California and Colorado, these particularly intense and widespread wildfires were believed to have been started by lightning. Data from the CAMS GFAS dataset shows that for Colorado, the intensity for the whole state has been well above the 2003-2019 average for most of August, while in California, the intensity peaked in the second half of the month.

Mark Parrington, Senior Scientist and wildfire expert at CAMS, comments: “The Arctic fires burning since middle of June with high activity have already beaten 2019’s record in terms of scale and intensity as reflected in the estimated CO2 emissions. We know from climate data provided by our parallel service at ECMWF, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), that warmer and drier conditions have been prevalent again this summer. Our monitoring is vital in understanding how the scale and intensity of these wildfire events have an impact on the atmosphere in terms of air pollution. This is also providing useful information for scientists, policymakers and relevant bodies around the world.”

More information on the Arctic wildfire season 2020 can be found here: atmosphere.copernicus.eu/another-active-year-arctic-wildfires

More information on how CAMS monitors wildfires across the world can be found here: atmosphere.copernicus.eu/qa-wildfires