Devastating forest fires in Spain, France and Portugal in recent weeks have helped drive carbon emissions from wildfires to record levels across the European Union and the UK.
Last month saw 鈥� and , as abnormally hot conditions left landscapes bone dry. The UK was hit by its most destructive wildfires to date. A this year found that such fires are being made worse globally because of climate change and land-use change.
Aside from the immediate hit to lives, ecosystems and property, the recent fires were so intense that they broke European records for the amount of carbon released by wildfires, according to the latest data.
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Emissions for the first half of the year across the EU and UK neared 6 million tonnes of carbon, according to figures shared by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). That is more than twice the amount typically released in recent years, and the highest in satellite monitoring records going back to 2003.
"The Iberian peninsula and southern France experienced very extreme fire danger through much of July, reflecting the hot and dry conditions, which will have caused the fires to burn more persistently and with more severity following the ignition," says Mark Parrington at CAMS.
While a small contributor to emissions from wildfires globally, this form of pollution for the first half of the year in the EU and UK is roughly on a par with the annual carbon emissions of Croatia. Globally, wildfire emissions have been unremarkable this year to date, but Europe鈥檚 season of fires may not be over yet.
The UN World Meteorological Organization says many parts of Europe are entering their third heatwave of the summer. The UK Met Office said today that parts of England are expected to hit low or mid-30掳C (85-95掳F) temperatures next week, while large parts of the country remain extremely dry.
Although the UK saw its biggest loss of property from fires taking hold on grassland on the outskirts of towns and cities on 19 July, when temperatures reached 40掳C in some places, a number of fires have broken out in the past fortnight due to the parched conditions.
To date this year, the UK has seen the second highest area burned by wildfires on record. More than 20,000 hectares have been hit, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.
However, Paul Hedley, the firefighter leading the UK鈥檚 wildfire response, that he thinks 2022 will soon break the UK record for the largest area burned and highest number of fires. Efforts are being taken to reduce the risk of that milestone coming to pass. Retailer M&S this week , while use of barbecues was banned in parks in some parts of the country,
