The smoke from Canadian fires that has covered parts of the US in a thick haze is expected to pour into Norway on Thursday evening, Norwegian officials have said.
Atmosphere and climate scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute (NCERI) used a forecast model to predict how the smoke would travel through the atmosphere.
Observations in southern Norway have already reported increasing concentrations of aerosolised particles.
Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior NILU researcher, said: “We may be able to see some haze or smell smoke.
“However, we do not believe that the number of particles in the air here in Norway will be large enough to be harmful to our health.”
Kjetil Tørseth, research director with NILU, said that with “the increasing temperatures due to climate change, forest fires are likely to be more common and of a larger magnitude”.
“I think these kind of episodes are to be more common in the future. And they do, of course, have an impact on climate,” he said.
“We are especially interested to see the effects on the Arctic, where soot deposition onto snow and ice might actually increase the local warming.”
The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1.
Smoke from the wildfires blanketed New York in a smoky haze on Wednesday, turning the air a yellowish gray and prompting warnings for people to stay inside and keep windows closed.
The smoke has affected millions of people, held up flights at major airports, postponed Major League Baseball games and prompted people to use pandemic-era face masks.
Forest fires continued to burn across Canada on Thursday as the country endured its worst-ever start to wildfire season.
About 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) have already burned, roughly 15 times the 10-year average, according to federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair.
Smoke-forecasting website BlueSky Canada showed wildfire smoke spreading across much of the country on Thursday.
The smoke is set to intensify in Ottawa, Toronto, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and remain thick in other cities along the east coast of the United States, including New York.
