Stratospheric impact of the anomalous 2023 Canadian wildfires: the two vertical pathways of smoke

Khaykin, Sergey; Bekki, Slimane; Godin-Beekmann, Sophie; Fromm, Michael D.; Goloub, Philippe; Hu, Qiaoyun; Josse, Béatrice; Laeng, Alexandra; Meziane, Mehdi; Peterson, David A.; Pelletier, Sophie; Thouret, Valérie

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14551-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14551-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14551-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 21

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

04 Nov 2025

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 04 Nov 2025

Stratospheric impact of the anomalous 2023 Canadian wildfires: the two vertical pathways of smoke

Sergey Khaykin, Slimane Bekki, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Michael D. Fromm, Philippe Goloub, Qiaoyun Hu, Béatrice Josse, Alexandra Laeng, Mehdi Meziane, David A. Peterson, Sophie Pelletier, and Valérie Thouret

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14551-2025-supplement

Data sets

TROPOMI Level 2 Ultraviolet Aerosol Index products, Version 01 Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA) https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-0wafvaf

CAMS global biomass burning emissions based on fire radiative power (GFAS) Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service https://doi.org/10.24381/a05253c7

SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V052, Earth Data NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/ISS/SAGEIII/SOLAR_HDF5_L2-V5.3

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

Video supplement

Animated sequence of daily maps of TROPOMI absorbing aerosol index (AAI), OMPS-LP stratospheric aerosol layer detections (SALD) and pyroCb events during May-October 2023 Sergey Khaykin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17214459

MOCAGE simulation of wildfire plume transport Sergey Khaykin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17214480

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Executive editor

This study is of particular relevance not only to the geoscientific community but also to the broader public and media, as it touches on wildfire resilience, atmospheric health, and climate feedbacks—all central to contemporary environmental discourse. It presents a timely and highly relevant analysis of the stratospheric effects of the record-breaking 2023 Canadian wildfire season—an event of global environmental and public interest. Using a combination of satellite, airborne, and ground-based observations, alongside chemistry-transport model simulations, the study uncovers a surprising and counterintuitive result: despite the extreme scale and intensity of the fires, the vertical reach of smoke into the stratosphere was relatively shallow.