Smoke from Canada’s wildfires has reached as far as Norway
The smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada, which has already blanketed parts of the US and placed around 75 million people under air quality alerts, has reached as far as Norway, according to scientists in that country, CNN reports.
Over the last few days, plumes of smoke have stretched from Canada across Greenland, Iceland and made their way to Norway. Scientists at the Climate and Environmental Research Institute in Norway (NILU) have been able to detect the increase in smoke using very sensitive instruments and then confirm its origin using forecast modeling.
People in Norway may be able to smell and even notice the smoke as a light haze but, unlike parts of the US that have seen hazardous pollution, they should experience no health impacts, said Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior scientist at NILU. “The fires traveling from such long distances arrive very diluted,” he told CNN.
Over the coming days, the plume is expected to spread across swaths of Europe but it’s unlikely people will be able to smell or notice the smoke, Evangeliou said.
In 2020, smoke from California’s record-breaking wildfires was detected in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago located deep inside the Arctic Circle.
The smoke brings negative climate impacts. Wildfire smoke moving over the Arctic deposits soot on the snow and ice, darkening the white surface, which allows it to absorb more heat. This, in turn, accelerates Arctic warming.
