(Paris) Rejections of smoke and greenhouse gases linked to forest fires since the beginning of the summer in the northern hemisphere are among the highest registered, even with a record in the United Kingdom, the European service Copernicus announced on Thursday.
In Canada, where dozens of fires from the beginning of June ravaged millions of hectares and led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, “total daily intensity and emissions” have been “constantly higher than the 2003-2024 average since May”.
Since the beginning of the year and until the end of July, the cumulative total of estimated emissions for Canada has been 180 carbon megatons, according to data from the CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System. It had been higher only in 2023.
The United Kingdom has recorded an annual record for total emissions since the beginning of the year, with 0.35 carbon megatonne, following large fires that ravaged northern Scotland at the end of June.
Several regions of North America have also been affected in recent weeks.
In July, forest fires in Arizona issued a total of just under 1.5 carbon emissions, the highest level for this month in the Cams archives. In New Mexico, fire-related emissions were the third highest ever recorded for July.
The Mediterranean basin was not spared either, following the heat wave which fell on the region in June-July.
The fires were particularly intense in Cyprus, the country reaching its cumulative annual level of emissions linked to the highest fires in the space of two days, mainly due to fires of 22 and 23 July.
The levels of carbon emissions linked to the fires in June and July in Greece and Turkey are among the highest of the 23 years of CAMS measures, underlines Copernicus.
In Serbia and Albania, they were the second highest, behind 2007, with just over 0.05, megatonne and 0.07 megatonne.
“Forest fires are frequent in the boreal regions during the summer months, but in recent years have been unusual because of their severity and their duration,” said Mark Parrington, scientific director of the CAMS, quoted in the press release.
