Copernicus - Canada's 2023 Wildfire CO2 Output Accounted For 23% Of Total Global Wildfire Carbon Emissions

[hatrack]

Unprecedented wildfires in Canada

The wildfires that Canada experienced during 2023 have generated the highest carbon emissions in record for this country by a wide margin. According to GFASv1.2 data, the wildfires that started to take place in early May emitted almost 480 megatonnes of carbon, which is almost five-times the average for the past 20 years accounting for 23% of the total global wildfire carbon emissions for 2023. The global annual total estimated fire emissions (as of 10 December) is 2100 megatonnes of carbon. These wildfires in British Colombia, Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia, the Northwest territories, and Quebec were remarkable not only in terms of carbon emissions but also in terms of their intensity, persistence and impact on local communities.



The smoke pollution generated by wildfires across Canada severely affected the air quality not only locally, but also for large parts of North America and beyond, with several episodes of long-range smoke transport across the Atlantic leading to hazy skies over parts of Europe.

CAMS Senior Scientist, Mark Parrington comments: "The wildfires in Canada were the significant story in global fire emissions for 2023. The scale across much of the country, and persistence with fires continuing from May until October, was at a level which has never been seen in the data record (including longer records than those we have in the GFAS dataset). The impacts of North American air quality, and the fact that Europe could experience hazy skies as a result of these fires gives a clear indication of their significance. In CAMS we closely monitor vegetation fires around the world throughout the year, to better understand how fire seasons may be changing and what this means for air quality around the world."


Greece, Hawaii and Northern Hemisphere in general

The Northern Hemisphere was marked by several wildfire events consuming vast swathes of forests and grasslands across Canada, Russia, the United States, and Europe. While Canada wildfires broke records, the United States and Russia experienced much quieter fire seasons than usual with estimated emissions below the average of the previous 20 years.

The historically wildfire-sensitive Mediterranean region in Europe, particularly Greece, experienced devastating wildfires in July and August. The fires in Rhodes in July and around the Evros region, close to the Turkish border, of East Macedonia and Thrace in August had significant impacts on local communities. The combined wildfire carbon emissions for July and August were the third largest on record followed by 2007 and 2021, at approximately 2 megatonnes of carbon.



The wildfires in Spain, on the border between Aragon and Valencia, and in Asturias, at the end of March, were the country’s first large forest fires of the year resulting in the highest emissions for the month in the 21 years of the CAMS GFAS dataset. During August, the Spanish Island of Tenerife and Canary Islands experienced the highest carbon emissions since 2003. Wildfires at the Hawai'ian island of Maui during August were also noticeable both in terms of emissions and local impact particularly causing significant toll on human lives and infrastructure. Multiple regions across Eurasia including Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia also saw some significant seasonal wildfires in April and May.

EDIT

https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-canada-produced-23-global-wildfire-carbon-emissions-2023

[OnlinePoker]

1. In BC (I don't know about other provinces) fires that don't threaten structures are left to burn

They're monitored, but little effort is put into controlling them. After the dry winter last year, this set up a perfect scenario for fires to explode this past summer.