A new World Meteorological Organization bulletin on Aerosols examines the impact of biomass burning (wildfires and open burning for agriculture) on climate and air quality. It covers the episodes of the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires, the 2015 Indonesia peatfires and smoke transport from boreal forest fires to the Arctic. The general trend in global fire activity has been observed to be one of decline over the last 20 years largely driven by changes in the use of fire for agricultural land clearing in tropical regions. Clear trends are difficult to ascertain for extratropical regions due to interannual variability in the distribution and scale of fire activity, according to the WMO Aerosol Bulletin on Biomass Burning. The Aerosol Bulletin reflects on a number of episodes of forest fires that have led to substantial air pollution events with elevated aerosol concentrations.
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