Fire hotspots and carbon monoxide concentrations

Once again, the summer of 2025 has since parts of Europe and beyond struck by extreme heat, sparking numerous wildfires. Wildfires not only endanger lives and devastate wildlife, habitats, agriculture and property, but they also severely degrade air quality, compounding their impact on human health.

The map spans southern Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and across to the Black Sea to show fire hotspots (above) and concentrations of atmospheric carbon monoxide (below), on 17 August.

Hotspots are categorised by radiative power using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), aboard the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 satellites.

The carbon monoxide map is based on data from the European Commission’s Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). Largely based on satellite data, CAMS provides information related to air pollution and health, solar energy, greenhouse gases and climate forcing around the world. The current Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite and the newly-launched Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 instruments are key to providing such data.

Read full story: Iberian wildfires seen from space