April 23, 2024

Heat and Fires Scorch Northern Canada: Hundreds of Fires Raging in Northwest Territories and Yukon

Thick plumes of thick smoke rippled from numerous of the largest fires, sometimes sending out smoke streaming north toward the Beaufort Sea and Canadian Arctic. At least 96 fires have been reported in the Northwest Territories this year, and 131,380 hectares (507 square miles, 1,313 square kilometers) have burned. Fires in The Yukon have charred another 62,336 hectares (241 square miles, 623 square kilometers).

July 6, 2022
In early July 2022, a mix of dry weather, lightning, and uncommon heat fueled numerous wildland fires in northern Canada. 136 fires were burning in The Yukon and 65 in the Northwest Territories on July 6, according to the Canadian government.
The image above was caught on July 6, 2022, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite. Thick plumes of thick smoke billowed from numerous of the largest fires, in some cases sending smoke streaming north toward the Beaufort Sea and Canadian Arctic. In addition, Environment Canada has actually published heat and air quality cautions for numerous communities in the Northwest Territories.
The 2nd image (below), from the Operational Land Imager ( OLI) on Landsat 8, is a better view of fires burning near Great Bear Lake, a lake in the boreal forest of Canada. At least 96 fires have actually been reported in the Northwest Territories this year, and 131,380 hectares (507 square miles, 1,313 square kilometers) have burned. Fires in The Yukon have charred another 62,336 hectares (241 square miles, 623 square kilometers).

July 6, 2022
Lots of parts of The Yukon and Northwest Territories have experienced record-breaking temperature levels in current weeks. The severe heat dries out plant life and makes it much easier for fires to burn and fire up.
Research study also suggests that hot weather condition has made thunderstorms and lightning more likely in this area. In a research study released in 2017, researchers discovered connections in between temperatures, lightning strikes, fire size, and burned area because 1975. “We anticipate an increasing number of thunderstorms, and for this reason fires, across the high latitudes in the coming years as a result of environment modification,” stated research study co-author Brendan Rogers of the Woodwell Climate Research.
Regardless of notable fire activity in northern Canada, Alaska, and the U.S. Southwest, general emissions from international fire activity have actually been low in current months, according to data shared by Mark Parrington, a climatic researcher with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Parrington tracks fires for the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) using a satellite-based data record that began in 2003. Web cams estimates near-real-time wildfire emissions using its Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS), which aggregates observations of fires made by NASAs Aqua and Terra satellites.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey and MODIS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.