In a statement on the fires in Canada and the effects in Portugal, the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) reports that the forest fires that have been plaguing Canada for weeks have emitted into the atmosphere “significant amounts of gases and particles that are transported and scattered by winds”.

According to the IPMA, a cyclonic circulation, will lead to the large-scale transport of these pollutants, mainly carbon monoxide, along the North Atlantic, which arrived in the Azores region last Tuesday.

However, the IPMA states that “the concentrations of these pollutants are lower than the established legal limits and, therefore, should not represent any threat to human health”.


The IPMA states that these pollutants will continue to be transported and should reach the Iberian Peninsula from Sunday, but in lower concentrations than in the Azores.

The IPMA also recalls that last week, the Norwegian Institute for Environmental and Climate Research confirmed the presence of particles originating from the fires in Canada in air samples collected at the Birkenes Observatory, in southern Norway.