Rationale

Over the past 20+ years wildland fires have become a growing concern due to the significant impact of their emissions on atmospheric composition at global and regional scale.

Wildfires contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and are a major player in global carbon cycling. Aerosols emitted by wildfires not only affect air quality and visibility but also impact climate by reflecting and absorbing sunlight.

Smoke can be transported by dominant winds over long distances and degrade air quality far from wildfire locations.

Climate modeling studies have pointed out that climate change will dramatically increase wildland fire danger levels in some regions of the world. Overall, the consequences would be an increased occurrence of larger fires, an intensification of emissions, and more smoke episodes in populated areas.

SmokySky is a fire product suite that detects, monitors, and predicts wildland fire occurrences and smoke events.The website started in spring 2019 and has been operationnal since fall 2020.

It presents forecast of various parameters related to fire activity and smoke transport. High-resolution maps provide daily 7-day forecasts by default, as well as hourly variability for 72-hour periods for selected parameters.

Additional functionalities and modules will be regularly added to the website.