Smoke from Fort McMurray wildfire detected in Europe

Thursday, May 26, 2016, 12:34 PM - Poor air quality is still a major concern in Fort McMurray, as smoke from the massive blaze, which now consumes over 500,000 hectares, continues to linger over the community. Over 80,000 residents remain out of their homes and now, officials say ash and soot from the wildfire has also made its way to parts of Europe.

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"As evidenced in these images from the morning and evening passes of the Terra and Aqua satellites respectively, huge amounts of smoke are still billowing into the atmosphere," NASA said Wednesday. "The Alberta Health Services has issued an air-quality advisory for the Fort McMurray area, as well as a precautionary air-quality advisory for Edmonton and communities in the North Zone due to wildfires."

NASA

NASA satellite images from earlier this week also show dust and soot swirling over Spain and the U.K. The blue streaks in the image below represent the aerosol index, which is an indication of dust and soot in the atmosphere and is a result of the Fort McMurray fire.

Before traveling east across the Atlantic Ocean, smoke from the fire also spread to Florida and large parts of the southern United States earlier this month. The plume of particulates from the fire travel up into the atmosphere first before being carried along the jetstream.

"When that column started to build over a couple of those really key days, it got the smoke way, way up into the atmosphere and it basically gets stuck in the jet stream," fire ecologist Robert Gray told the CBC. "The jet stream will grab it, and like a river it will carry it down and take it as far as the volume goes. It could circumnavigate the globe if there's enough of it."

NASA

Potential concerning impact on Greenland's ice sheet

While the impact from the fire is considered mild across Europe as the plume of smoke is quite diluted, officials say there could be even greater concern for Greenland's ice sheet. In short, it could enhance the risk of increased melting.

"The reason that ash and soot are such a concern for the Greenland ice sheet is due to its effect on the ice’s albedo – the amount of sunlight the ice sheet reflects from its surface," says Weather Network meteorologist Scott Sutherland. "Normally, around this time of the year, the Greenland ice sheet reflects between 80-85 per cent of the direct sunlight that falls on it."

Since the atmosphere is transparent to sunlight at the wavelengths that reach the ice sheet, when it’s directly reflected away, most of that reflected sunlight goes right back out into space, Sutherland adds, and this acts as a way for the planet to regulate the climate.

"As ash and soot from the wildfires settles out of the air over Greenland, it darkens the ice, lowering its albedo," Sutherland explains. "Less of the incident sunlight is reflected, and more of it is absorbed."

This has a two-fold impact.

"First, it causes the surface of the ice to warm, causing more melting," Sutherland says. "Second, with more sunlight being absorbed by the ice sheet’s surface, it means more longwave radiation is being emitted into the atmosphere, and the atmosphere isn’t transparent to these wavelengths. Greenhouse gases in the air absorb longwave radiation, trapping it as heat in the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming and climate change."

Source: CBC