Wildfires release large amounts of carbon dioxide, black carbon, brown carbon, and ozone precursors into the atmosphere. These emissions affect radia]on, clouds, and climate on regional and even global scales. Wildfires Affect Air Quality.As fires burn, carbon stored in trees and other vegetation combusts, releasing carbon dioxide and other potent greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. This means that as fires increase, so do emissions.Wildfires emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that will continue to warm the planet well into the future. They damage forests that would otherwise remove CO2 from the air. And they inject soot and other aerosols into the atmosphere, with complex effects on warming and cooling.
To be sure, the leading cause of global warming remains overwhelmingly the burning of fossil fuels. That warming lengthens the fire season, drying and heating the forests. In turn, blazes like those scorching areas across the Northern Hemisphere this summer have a feedback effect—a vicious cycle when the results of warming produce yet more warming