It’s complicated: While CO2 causes long-term warming, aerosols can have both a warming and a temporary cooling effect.
California and Washington state issued health warnings in August as smoke blown from wildfires darkened the skies. Wildfires also affect the climate. Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
The extreme wildfires sweeping across parts of North America, Europe and Siberia this year are not only wreaking local damage and sending choking smoke downwind. They are also affecting the climate itself in important ways that will long outlast their flames.
Wildfires emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that will continue to warm the planet well into the future. They damage forests that would otherwise remove CO2 from the air. And they inject soot and other aerosols into the atmosphere, with complex effects on warming and cooling.
To…
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Exposing the Big Game 