Figures and visuals: A story of the wildfire season
A summary and collection of visual aids that help us better understand the true extent of the 2023 wildfire season in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Northern Hemisphere is slowly approaching the end of the wildfire season for 2023, which normally starts in May and extends into October. This year was typical in this regard, with extreme wildfire activity experienced at various locations in the summer months. Wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems. However, an increase in their frequency and intensity may lead to habitat destruction, damage to property and loss of life, as well as degradation of air quality. Over the last four decades, changes in the climate of European summers have led to a higher potential for wildfires. At the same time, the observed frequency and intensity of wildfires and the related emissions show a relatively high degree of inter-annual variability. In this context, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) data on fire emissions and smoke transport associated with wildfires provides valuable insights to evaluate the most relevant wildfire episodes of the last few months in a comprehensive manner.
Europe
The wildfires in northern Greece this summer were the largest wildfires ever recorded in the European Union. According to data from the European Forest Fire Information Service (EFFIS), Greece’s wildfires have resulted in a cumulative burned area since the start of the year of over 173,000 hectares. Following a heatwave on the Iberian Peninsula, southwestern Portugal experienced some large wildfires in the first half of August. Reflecting the extreme wildfire activity, fire radiative power [or FRP: the rate of emitted radiative energy by the fire at the time of the observation] data for 4–9 August show values that are significantly higher than the 20-year average. Elsewhere, a large wildfire developed on the Spanish island of Tenerife on 16 August and spread quickly. Data from CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System show high daily total FRP for the Canary Islands for 16–22 August and wildfire carbon emissions for the Canary Islands in August were the highest since 2003.
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