According to a study led by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory professionals and published in the journal Nature on August 28, extreme fire in Canada over the course of the year 2023 emitted nearly 640 million metric tons of coal from May to September.
The study examined the flames that burned an area the size of North Dakota between May and September 2023 and was funded by NASA as part of its effort to know our changing world. The results revealed that fossil fuel releases from American burns totaled about 480 million and 291 million metric tons, both, more than Russia or Japan did in five weeks.
In 2022, the annual fossil fuel emissions of large nations like Russia ( 480 million metric tons ) and Japan ( 291 million metric tons ) were higher than the carbon released by the Canadian fires over the course of five months. The researchers did point out that while both fire and fossil fuel combustion cause quick heat, the carbon emitted from flames will be reabsorbed by Earth’s communities as the jungle regrows, in contrast to the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels, which is not easily reversible by biological processes.
The European Space Agency ( ESA ) developed the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument ( TROPOMI ), which measures air pollution, to calculate the amount of carbon monoxide ( CO ) in the atmosphere during the fire season. The CO2 released was therefore “back-calculated” based on the ratio between the two chemicals in the flames feathers. What we discovered was that the flames emissions were bigger than anything in the record for Canada, according to Brian Byrne, a JPL professor and lead author of the study.
The study attributed Canada’s 2023 fireplace year to its trees ‘ highest temperatures and drier conditions since at least 1980. Temperatures in the northwest region, where 61 % of fire emissions occurred, were more than 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit ( 2.6 degrees Celsius ) above average from May through September, and precipitation was more than 3 inches ( 8 centimeters ) below average for much of the year. These conditions, along with other factors such as prolonged drought, earlier blaze control strategies, invasive species, and the spread of domestic communities into less established areas, contributed to the increased range, severity, and overall size of wildfires in recent decades.
Around 18 million acres of forest were burned from British Columbia to Quebec and the Atlantic regions in the year 2023, which was exceedingly large and enormous in size. More than eight times the area of burned property over the course of a 40-year period made up 5 % of American trees. Byrne remarked that” some climate models project that the heat we experienced next year will become the standard by the 2050s. The heat, coupled with lack of moisture, is likely to cause fire activity in the future”.
The potential impact of situations like the 2023 American bush fires on global weather is important, as Canada’s huge trees are one of the planet’s significant carbon sinks, absorbing more CO2 from the environment than they release. The researchers noted that it is still uncertain whether Canadian trees will continue to absorb carbon at a quick rate or whether increasing fire activity will offset some of the adoption, which would reduce the forests ‘ ability to combat climate change.
