Have you noticed especially hazy skies where you live over the last few summers? While many parts of the world are experiencing more frequent and intense wildfires, even places that are nowhere near the fires are being impacted by the smoke from fires hundreds or thousands of miles away. Wildfire smoke gets so high in the atmosphere, it can be blown across a continent in a matter of days. In this special bonus episode, we’re going to learn the hows and whys of wildfire smoke that drifts around the world. And we’ll talk a little bit about how to stay safe when air quality goes down. Our guests are Professor Joel Thornton of the University of Washington and Dr. Gregg Furie of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Download our learning guides: PDF | Google Slide | Transcript
- When things burn, tiny particles of soot float up into the sky. The particles are made of lots of tiny molecules. They are the parts of leaves and other plant material that have been burned in the fire.
- Forest fires are so big and hot that they can push those particles way up into the upper atmosphere.
- When all the soot and other “carbonaceousmaterials” gets into the jet stream (a band of air current moving west to east around the world) it can travel hundreds or thousands of miles in just a couple of days.
- So smoke from forest fires burning in Western Canada can be seen across many parts of the US. And smoke from fires in Eastern Canada has been visible in the sky in Europe. Australia is another area experiencing both increased wildfire intensity and increased haze from smoke.
- The sky looks hazy because all of those particles are in the air. The individual particles are too small to see with your eyes, but together they make the sky look less clear.
- When the air is full of these particles, it can make the air a little less safe to breathe. The federal government monitors air quality and has something called the Air Quality Index, or AQI, that helps people know how good or bad the air quality is in their region.
- When there’s a lot of smoke in the air, the air quality can diminish. Breathing in that air can mean some of those tiny particles go into your lungs and can travel through your body.
- For most people, wildfire smoke isn’t usually a big deal, but people who have asthma or other breathing problems, very young kids, and older adults can find it harder to breathe when there is wildfire smoke in the air and should take precautions when there’s a lot of smoke by staying inside or wearing a mask.
