According to the EU Earth observation program Copernicus, the forest fires that have been raging in Canada for weeks have released record amounts of carbon into the atmosphere: According to estimates by the Copernicus Atmosphere Service (CAMS), this year’s emissions from the fires up to the end of July are more than twice as high as in the whole previous record year 2014. According to this, the carbon emissions in 2023 so far amount to an estimated 290 megatons. In 2014, it was estimated that fires released 138 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere in Canada.
“We have been monitoring emissions from wildfires across Canada for three months since early May,” said CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington. “In that time, they have increased almost continuously to levels that are already well above the previous total annual emissions from Canada’s fires in our dataset.” The dataset goes back to early 2003. As the fires continue across much of Canada, Parrington expects emissions to continue to rise.
The Atmosphere Monitoring Service is one of several components of the European Union’s Copernicus programme. Among other things, it provides data on the atmosphere, oceans, land, climate change, security and energy obtained from satellite images.
