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June 10, 2025 - Canadian Wildfire Smoke Again Reaches Europe
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Hundreds of wildland fires continued to burn across Canada through early June, pumping massive amounts of smoke into the atmosphere.
On June 6, the Moderate Resolution -Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of thick smoke blanketing Europe. Almost all of this smoke appears to come from Canada as additional satellite imagery shows a long, unbroken river of gray smoke stretching from western Canada to western Russia—a distance greater than 7,600 km (4,700 miles). Smaller numbers of wildland fires are also currently burning in several locations in Europe, so it is likely that some of the smoke from European wildfires adds to the gray haze from the Canadian wildland fires.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center Inc (CIFFC), on June 9 there were 224 wildland fires burning across Canada, with sixteen new starts in the last 24 hours. Ninety-eight of those fires were listed as “out of control”. Most of the fires were located in British Columbia, but some fires were recorded as far west and north as Yukon Territory. Further west, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center reported 131 active fires on that same day, but most of those were less than 10 acres in size, with three listed as “large” or “very large”.
Wildfires are a natural part of the boreal forest ecosystem (taiga), which stretches across high latitudes of North America, Asia, and Europe and is primarily made up of coniferous trees. However, high temperatures and dry, short winters have triggered more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting fire seasons. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2023 Canadian wildfire season was the most destructive on record so far, with the 2024 season also ranked among the worst. As of June 9, there have already been 1,874 fires across Canada, according to CIFCC, and 3.2 million hectares burnt (7.9 million acres/12,300 square miles)—an area larger than the states of Maryland and Delaware combined.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/8/2025
Resolutions:
1km (5.4 MB), 500m (4.5 MB), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Hundreds of wildland fires continued to burn across Canada through early June, pumping massive amounts of smoke into the atmosphere.
On June 6, the Moderate Resolution -Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of thick smoke blanketing Europe. Almost all of this smoke appears to come from Canada as additional satellite imagery shows a long, unbroken river of gray smoke stretching from western Canada to western Russia—a distance greater than 7,600 km (4,700 miles). Smaller numbers of wildland fires are also currently burning in several locations in Europe, so it is likely that some of the smoke from European wildfires adds to the gray haze from the Canadian wildland fires.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center Inc (CIFFC), on June 9 there were 224 wildland fires burning across Canada, with sixteen new starts in the last 24 hours. Ninety-eight of those fires were listed as “out of control”. Most of the fires were located in British Columbia, but some fires were recorded as far west and north as Yukon Territory. Further west, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center reported 131 active fires on that same day, but most of those were less than 10 acres in size, with three listed as “large” or “very large”.
Wildfires are a natural part of the boreal forest ecosystem (taiga), which stretches across high latitudes of North America, Asia, and Europe and is primarily made up of coniferous trees. However, high temperatures and dry, short winters have triggered more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting fire seasons. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2023 Canadian wildfire season was the most destructive on record so far, with the 2024 season also ranked among the worst. As of June 9, there have already been 1,874 fires across Canada, according to CIFCC, and 3.2 million hectares burnt (7.9 million acres/12,300 square miles)—an area larger than the states of Maryland and Delaware combined.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/8/2025
Resolutions:
1km (5.4 MB), 500m (4.5 MB), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
