English: September 23, 2024 September 13, 2024

In mid-September 2024, hundreds of forest fires flamed up across northern Portugal. Spurred on by high winds, high air temperature, low humidity, and dry vegetation, the fires swept over more than 135,000 hectares before being quenched through the efforts of more than 5,000 firefighters. Most of the fires burned between September 14 and 19. Media reports at least 7 casualties.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported that between September 14 and September 20, Portugal recorded the highest total estimated emissions for the month of September in 22 years of CAMS data. That includes both carbon emissions and harmful particulate matter pollutants like PM10 and PM2.5.

PM10 is made up of particles 10 microns or less while PM2.5 is made up of particles 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter. Because PM2.5 are small enough to penetrate deep into the respiratory system, its potential implications for public health is significant.

On September 23, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of northern Portugal which shows the extensive burn scars (black and brick red) across this richly vegetated (bright green) part of the country. Also, in this type of false-color image, water looks deep blue, clouds appear white, and open land shows up as brown.

Click on the dates below the image to compare this Terra MODIS image from September 23 with another Terra MODIS false-color image of the same area acquired on September 13, prior to the fire outbreak. The change in landcover due to the fires in just ten days is obvious.