As Canada Faces Its Worst Wildfire, Europe Suffers Too. NASA Releases Pic

American space agency NASA has released photos of the smoke from Canadian wildfire crossing the Atlantic Ocean and covering western Europe on Monday. CNN said the wildfires have covered at least 18,688,691 acres across the country. Though June to August is typically the peak season for wildfire activity in Canada, this year has become the worst on record, the outlet further said. Citing the statistics released by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), the landmass burned this year is more than 17,559,303 acres - a record since 1995.

In the photo of a satellite map released by NASA, plume of black carbon particles - commonly called soot - are seen spanning eastward from North America and across more than 2,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.

The satellite map pic released by NASA shows black smoke over Europe.

Another photo shows the smoke from wildfires drifting over northern Portugal and Spain. The picture was captured by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite at 11am on Monday (Universal Time).

The black smoke density in NASA's map comes from GEOS forward processing (GEOS-FP) model, which assimilates data from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based observing systems, said NASA.

The computerised model incorporates meteorological data like air temperature, moisture, and winds to project the plume's behaviour in addition to satellite observations.

The CNN report said that the smoke made its way to Europe through the jet stream - strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

"Whilst the smoke is high up in the atmosphere, it may make for some vivid sunrises and sunsets in the next few days," the UK's Met Office wrote on Twitter.

Smoke from wildfires in Canada has drifted right across the Atlantic Ocean and is now evident on satellite imagery across western Europe

🌅 Whilst the smoke is high up in the atmosphere, it may make for some vivid sunrises and sunsets in the next few days pic.twitter.com/VSBPx0jH5n

— Met Office (@metoffice) June 26, 2023

Meanwhile, the wildfire continue to rage in Canada. CIFFC said there were at least 53 new wildland fires on Sunday. Out of these, Alberta had the highest number (23), followed by Ontario and Quebec.

On Monday, 27 new wildfires were reported, with 16 in British Columbia.