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Smoke from Canada's wildfires reaches Europe

Smoke from Canada's wildfires reaches Europe

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada, which have already blanketed parts of the US and put about 75 million people under an air quality alert, has reached as far as Norway.

Over the past few days, plumes of smoke have stretched from Canada across Greenland, Iceland and on their way to Norway.

Scientists at the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU) were able to detect the increase in the amount of smoke using highly sensitive instruments and then confirm its origin using forecast modelling.

People in Norway may be able to smell and even notice the smoke as a light haze, but, unlike parts of the U.S. that have seen dangerous pollution, it doesn't appear to have health impacts, said Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior scientist at NILU.

"Smoke from wildfires that travel such long distances arrives very thin," he told CNN.

Over the next few days, the plume is expected to spread across Europe, but it is unlikely that people will be able to smell or notice the smoke, Evangeliou said.