The 2023 Canadian wildfires have been a big source of carbon pollution. The country ranked fourth in carbon emissions in the world, making Canada one of the top contributors. A research study by Dr. Brendan Byrne, a former Ph.D. student of Prof. Kim Strong and Prof. Dylan Jones at U of T’s Department of Physics, shows that the wildfire carbon emissions from the 2023 Canadian forest fires were four times larger than Canada’s annual fossil fuel emissions from all other sources.

Prof. Debra Wunch of the Department of Physics, a coauthor of the Byrne et al. study, has been recording concentrations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide for years. The measurements are taken using an instrument sitting inside a structure about the size of a school portable in a northern Saskatchewan forest. Prof. Wunch shares that the measurements of carbon monoxide recorded in the summer of 2023 are the highest she had ever recorded.

Dr. Byrne points out that Canada is unique in this respect as it is home to 8.5 percent of the globe’s forested area, providing a vast forest cover. While forests sequester some of the greenhouse gases humans emit, the increased wildfires will suppress carbon uptake by Canadian forests, adding to concerns about the long-term durability of these forests as a carbon sink.

More information here: Carbon emissions from the 2023 Canadian wildfires | Nature

More information here: Canada’s 2023 wildfire emissions more than most countries (thestar.com)