The fires that raged in multiple regions of the world caused record CO2 emissions in July and August, the European Earth observation service Copernicus announced on Tuesday, pointing to the responsibility of global warming.

“There is concern that drier and warmer regional conditions - brought about by global warming - are increasing the flammability and risk of vegetation fires.

This has led to very intense and rapidly developing fires, ”commented Mark Parrington, Scientific Director at Copernicus.

Almost 1,300 megatonnes of CO2

“More fires are expected around the world in the coming weeks as the fire season in the Amazon and South America continues to develop,” he added.

During this boreal fire season which affects the northern hemisphere from May to October, the month of July recorded a world record since the start of these measurements made thanks to satellite observations, with 1,258 megatonnes of CO2 emissions, of which more than half attributed to fires in North America and Siberia.

New record in August, with 1,384.6 megatonnes worldwide, said the Copernicus press release.

“Throughout the summer, we have been monitoring forest fire activity in the northern hemisphere.

What appeared to be unusual is the number of fires, the size of the areas in which they have burned, their intensity and their persistence, ”said Mark Parrington.

Unprecedented daily intensity

Particularly in the northeast of Siberia, in the Republic of Sakha, the fire season has been "unusual" in terms of its size and the persistence of the blazes since the beginning of June. "It's a similar story in North America, parts of Canada, the Pacific Northwest and California, which have experienced large forest fires since late June and early July and are still ongoing," he added. Western North America was particularly devastated in July and August, with the Dixie fire being one of the largest on record in California history.

While south-eastern Europe was undergoing a prolonged heat wave, the Mediterranean was also affected, from Greece to Italy via Albania, Spain, and even Turkey, countries where the data showed an unprecedented daily intensity of fires since 2003. All these fires have a significant impact on the air quality of the affected regions but also beyond.

For example, a plume of smoke from North America reached the British Isles at the end of August before crossing all of Europe, notes Copernicus.

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