Canadian wildfires near Fort Simpson

Wildfire season is intesifying across Canada, with recent events in Ontario and the Northwest Territories spreading smoke thousands of miles across North America. Although wildfires are a natural occurrence, due to climate change, the wildfire season is starting earlier and lasting longer. The largest fires are currently burning in the Northwest Territories, where vast smoke plumes are being transported towards the Arctic Ocean and other parts of the country. 

Several wildfires and their smoke plumes can be seen near Fort Simpson in this acquisition from 16 July 2026, which combines different data from ESA's EarthCARE satellite with an optical image of the area captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission.

Using data from EarthCARE’s multispectral imager it is possible to highlight active wildfires and smoke plumes, while atmospheric data from EarthCARE's advanced lidar can be used to characterise emissions such as smoke.