Canadian wildfires of Summer 2023: high smoke episodes over Central Europe - observations and GEM-AQ model results.

           In 2023, Canada faced the threat of wildfires, a recurring environmental challenge exacerbated by factors such as climate change and dry conditions. The wildfires likely posed significant challenges to various regions, leading to evacuations, property damage, and adverse effects on air quality. Government agencies and firefighting teams were likely mobilized to contain the spread of the fires and protect affected communities.      Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides products related to emissions from wildfires (PMWF – particular matter from wildfires). Based on CAMS data specific periods were selected. The GEM-AQ model, which is a part of the CAMS ensemble, was run on a global grid to reproduce the hemispheric transport of smoke plum. Model results were compared against satellite measurement (TROPOMI – aerosol index and aerosol layer height) and with available in-situ observations (PolandAOD network). We will present the evolution of transport episodes over Poland as well as the analysis of the model performance in terms of timing and height of the aerosol plume observed.