While Australia is no stranger to bushfires, this one has captured the world's attention. Images of burnt-out cars, people fleeing homes, a parched koala desperately drinking from a cyclist's water bottle and
angry townspeople screaming at Prime Minister Scott Morrison for more action are making global headlines.
And there's a good reason for the attention.
"In my experience of doing this fire monitoring, in some places you see intense fires over quite large areas maybe for a week or a few weeks, but to see them for four months in one particular place … it is quite surprising," said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
"We only have 17 years of [CO2 emissions] data," said Parrington, who works in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Development Section at ECMWF analyzing wildfire emissions, among other sources. "But in that context then, yeah, absolutely, it's unprecedented."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/australia-bushfires-1.5414325