Topic
Uncontrolled vegetation fires, their causes, spread, smoke and effects on people and ecosystems.
GPS collars on 29 gray wolves in British Columbia suggest they were drawn to active wildfires and consistently avoided fire fronts. Movement is the only evidence reported, so any hunting is inferred from where the wolves went.
Reality
Researchers from Exeter, ETH Zurich and James Cook University estimate that fire-driven ozone cuts Amazon carbon uptake by about 24% of the fires' emissions. They warn the strong El Niño now forming could push that hidden loss up again.
Reality
Indonesia's fires grew roughly fourfold after June as the strongest El Niño on record began forming, with emissions on track to match 2015. The event is still strengthening on 1.4C of warming, and the year's outlook leans on a short record of past El Niños.
Reality
Copernicus, the EU's atmosphere monitor, says 34% of the world's population breathed "extremely poor" ozone air from January 1 to September 15. Its report partly blames heat and wildfires and finds ozone flat even where emission rules have cut other pollutants.
Reality
Concordia researchers found more than 30% of almost 2,000 stories on Canada's 2023 wildfires in six outlets explicitly tied the fires to climate change. The data cover one record season, so whether newsrooms kept drawing the link afterwards is still untested.
Reality