Smoke from Canadian wildfires reaches Europe: health effects named

“Of course it will affect the climate”

Smoke from catastrophic wildfires in Canada has reached Norway and into southern Europe. The researchers used the model to predict how the smoke would move around the region and assure that it would not pose a health risk.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has swept the eastern United States and Canada has floated over Norway and is expected to reach southern Europe, Norwegian officials said on Friday.

Using a climate prediction model, atmospheric and climate experts at the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU) have predicted how the smoke will travel through the atmosphere as it swirls over the Scandinavian country before moving further south, The Guardian writes. There, the smoke is not expected to pose a health hazard.

“Smoke from wildfires in Canada still hangs over Norway. It will also reach other parts of Europe over the next few days,” the institute said on Twitter.

According to an independent research institute, smoke has spread over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and observations in southern Norway have recorded an increase in the concentration of aerosol particles.

“We might be able to see the haze or the smell of smoke,” says Nikolaos Evangeliou, senior researcher at NILU. “However, we do not believe that the number of particles in the air here in Norway will be large enough to harm our health. When the smoke reaches Europe, the number of particles is much smaller.”

Smoke is likely to continue to spread throughout Norway as flames blaze across Canada, he said in a statement.

Kjetil Torseth, director of research at NILU, said that with rising temperatures due to the climate crisis, wildfires are likely to become more frequent and larger.

“So I think episodes like this should be more common in the future. And they certainly affect the climate,” he told The Associated Press. “We are particularly interested in seeing the implications for the Arctic, where soot deposition on snow and ice could actually increase local warming.”

Canada and the east coast of the United States are facing dangerous levels of pollution from the Canadian wildfires, mostly in the eastern province of Quebec. Massive streaks of unhealthy air stretched into the US Midwest.

Wednesday was the worst day for wildfire air pollution in recent U.S. history – the same day New York and Detroit reported the worst air quality in the world.

Smoke has sent more than 110 million Americans on air toxicity warnings, delayed flights at major airports, delayed Major League Baseball games and encouraged people to fish for pandemic-era face masks.

Canada has asked for help to fight more than 400 fires across the country.