Irregular Variability of Spatiotemporal Distributions of Wildfires and Emissions of Harmful Trace Gases in Europe Based on Satellite Monitoring Data

Abstract

Based on the results of satellite monitoring, the anomalies of spatiotemporal distributions of wildfire areas, as well as the volumes of caused emissions of carbon-containing trace gases (CO, CO₂) and aerosols (PM_2.5), for the territory of European Russia and Eastern and Central Europe from 2005 to 2018 are detected. It is found that, for 2005–2013, the annual areas of wildfires shrank for the territory of European Russia by almost a factor of 10, and the volumes of emissions of harmful gas traces into the atmosphere decreased by a factor of 7. However, starting from 2014, they were recorded to increase. The seasonal (spring and summer) maxima occurred in the distributions of the burned areas and the emission volumes in the time period under study. An anomalously large number of fire sources was recorded on the territory of Ukraine in 2014–2018 (70% of all fires in Eastern and Central Europe) where the specific density of fire sources, their relative areas, and the relative volumes of emissions increased by a factor of 3–5.7 compared to 2010–2013 and grew by a factor of 5–7.5 in August 2014–2018 compared to other territories of Eastern, Central Europe, and European Russia.