Britain recorded its hottest day ever on Tuesday (July 19), with the temperature exceeding 40C. Not just Britain, the entire Europe is gripped by the extreme heatwave. Hot weather has fueled a spate of fires across London.
As parts of Europe continue to burn, the region’s atmospheric monitoring service has issued a warning that the heatwave is generating very high levels of harmful ozone pollution. It added that large areas of western Europe also face “extreme” danger of wildfires.
According to a statement from the Copernicus monitoring service: “Tinder dry conditions and extreme heat are exacerbating the risk of wildfires.” The warning also mentioned that a large proportion of western Europe is in “extreme fire danger” and some areas of “very extreme fire danger”.
Copernicus also said that the heatwave is also causing high levels of ground-level ozone. On its website, the monitoring service wrote that the scientists are warning “very high levels of ozone pollution” in southern Europe caused by the heatwave could now affect northwestern regions in the coming week.
ALSO READ | Man trying to destroy evidence of theft sparks 1,000-hectare bushfire
Prediction by The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) comes after extremely high surface ozone pollution was experienced across western and southern Europe, particularly along the West Coast of Portugal and parts of northern Italy.
“The potential impacts of very high ozone pollution on human health can be considerable both in terms of respiratory and cardio-vascular illness,” said Mark Parrington, Senior Scientist from CAMS.
Importantly, Ozone (O3) at the Earth’s surface is a key air pollutant and it is a major greenhouse gas and component of urban smog. It harms human health and inhibits photosynthesis in plants.
Ozone is formed as emissions from fossil fuels and other man-made pollutants react in the presence of sunlight. For the unversed, the ozone layer in the stratosphere protects life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. But it plays a different role as a major greenhouse gas at lower altitudes.
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
