MADRID, 19 (EUROPA PRESS)
The wave of forest fires ravaging the Iberian Peninsula this August has caused the highest emissions in Spain since at least 2003.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) has been closely monitoring the exceptional increase in emissions from forest fires in Spain and Portugal during the first half of August.
At the beginning of the month, cumulative carbon emissions from wildfires in Spain were below the seasonal average, despite several active blazes. However, in just a few days, unprecedented fire activity in several regions raised the country's total wildfire emissions for 2025, becoming the highest annual total in the 23 years recorded in the CAMS dataset.
WELL ABOVE WHO LIMITS
Observations from the Spanish air quality monitoring network and the CAMS forecasting and monitoring system show that air quality has deteriorated across a large region of Spain, with concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) well above the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines (which set a 24-hour average of 15 picograms per cubic meter for PM2.5). Smoke has spread hundreds of kilometers, reducing air quality far beyond the immediate fire zones.
Smoke from the fires on the Iberian Peninsula has spread to France, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia, adding to the smoke from Canadian wildfires that has spread across the Atlantic.
