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Yaro VSO, Bondé L, Bougma PTC, Sedgo I, Guuroh RT, Gebremichael AW, Neya T, Linstädter A, Ouédraogo O. Greenhouse gas emission from prescribed fires is influenced by vegetation types in West African Savannas. Sci Rep 2024; 14:23754. [PMID: 39390052 PMCID: PMC11467211 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-73753-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2024] [Accepted: 09/20/2024] [Indexed: 10/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from prescribed fires are poorly investigated, resulting in a high uncertainty in GHG budgets. Using, a carbon mass balance approach and experimental prescribed fires in 80 plots, this study assessed carbon emissions and established emission factors (EFs) for carbon dioxides (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and methane (CH4) across climate zones and vegetation types. In grass and shrub savannas, fires could burn intensely due to the lower moisture content and continuous spatial distribution of biomass fuel, causing greater carbon emissions with 1.61 ± 0.13 t C ha-1 and 1.01 ± 0.13 t C ha-1, respectively. Despite their low carbon emissions, tree savannas (1658.17 ± 11.13 g kg-1) and woodlands (1629.94 ± 12.23 g kg-1) have the highest EFs, which can be attribute to the high carbon content of biomass fuel in these vegetation types. Vegetation types and their interaction with climate zones have a substantial impact on carbon emissions and carbon species EFs, and should therefore be considered in assessing GHG emissions from fires. The findings from this study provide a useful basis for improving the national measurement, reporting, and verification of GHG emissions and for improving the measurement of the global balance of GHG emissions from fires.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Loyapin Bondé
- Laboratory of Plant Biology and Ecology, University Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 P.O. Box 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
| | | | - Issoufou Sedgo
- Laboratory of Plant Biology and Ecology, University Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 P.O. Box 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
| | - Reginald Tang Guuroh
- CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, P.O. Box UP 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
- Biodiversity Research/Systematic Botany, University of Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 1, 14469, Potsdam, Germany
- CSIR-College of Science and Technology (CCST), P.O. Box M32, Accra, Ghana
| | - Amanuel Woldeselassie Gebremichael
- GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Biodiversity Research/Systematic Botany, University of Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 1, 14469, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Tiga Neya
- Ministry of the Environment, Water and Sanitation, 01 P.O. Box :7010, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Anja Linstädter
- Biodiversity Research/Systematic Botany, University of Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 1, 14469, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Oumarou Ouédraogo
- Laboratory of Plant Biology and Ecology, University Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 P.O. Box 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
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2
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Yan X, Zuo C, Li Z, Chen HW, Jiang Y, Wang Q, Wang G, Jia K, A Y, Chen Z, Chen J. Substantial Underestimation of Fine-Mode Aerosol Loading from Wildfires and Its Radiative Effects in Current Satellite-Based Retrievals over the United States. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:15661-15671. [PMID: 39163486 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c02498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/22/2024]
Abstract
Wildfires generate abundant smoke primarily composed of fine-mode aerosols. However, accurately measuring the fine-mode aerosol optical depth (fAOD) is highly uncertain in most existing satellite-based aerosol products. Deep learning offers promise for inferring fAOD, but little has been done using multiangle satellite data. We developed an innovative angle-dependent deep-learning model (ADLM) that accounts for angular diversity in dual-angle observations. The model captures aerosol properties observed from dual angles in the contiguous United States and explores the potential of Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite-2's (GOSAT-2) measurements to retrieve fAOD at a 460 m spatial resolution. The ADLM demonstrates a strong performance through rigorous validation against ground-based data, revealing small biases. By comparison, the official fAOD product from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and the Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) during wildfire events is underestimated by more than 40% over western USA. This leads to significant differences in estimates of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) from wildfires. The ADLM shows more than 20% stronger ARF than the MODIS, VIIRS, and MISR estimates, highlighting a greater impact of wildfire fAOD on Earth's energy balance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xing Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chen Zuo
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Zhanqing Li
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and ESSIC, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740, United States
| | - Hans W Chen
- Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg 41296, Sweden
| | - Yize Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Qiao Wang
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Guoqiang Wang
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Kun Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yinglan A
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ziyue Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Jiayi Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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3
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Smith JE, Billmire M, French NHF, Domke GM. Application of the wildland fire emissions inventory system to estimate fire emissions on forest lands of the United States. CARBON BALANCE AND MANAGEMENT 2024; 19:26. [PMID: 39143325 PMCID: PMC11325709 DOI: 10.1186/s13021-024-00274-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Forests are significant terrestrial biomes for carbon storage, and annual carbon accumulation of forest biomass contributes offsets affecting net greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The immediate loss of stored carbon through fire on forest lands reduces the annual offsets provided by forests. As such, the United States reporting includes annual estimates of direct fire emissions in conjunction with the overall forest stock and change estimates as a part of national greenhouse gas inventories within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Forest fire emissions reported for the United States, such as the 129 Tg CO2 reported for 2022, are based on the Wildland Fire Emissions Inventory System (WFEIS). Current WFEIS estimates are included in the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2022 published in 2024 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Here, we describe WFEIS the fire emissions inventory system we used to address current information needs, and an analysis to confirm compatibility of carbon mass between estimated forest fire emissions and carbon in forest stocks. RESULTS The summaries of emissions from forests are consistent with previous reports that show rates and interannual variability in emissions and forest land area burned are generally greater in recent years relative to the 1990s. Both emissions and interannual variability are greater in the western United States. The years with the highest CO2 emissions from forest fires on the 48 conterminous states plus Alaska were 2004, 2005, and 2015. In some years, Alaska emissions exceed those of the 48 conterminous states, such as in 2022, for example. Comparison of forest fire emission to forest carbon stocks indicate there is unlikely any serious disconnect between inventory and fire emissions estimates. CONCLUSIONS The WFEIS system is a user-driven approach made available via a web browser. Model results are compatible with the scope and reporting needs of the annual national greenhouse gas inventories.
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Affiliation(s)
- James E Smith
- USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 271 Mast Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA.
| | - Michael Billmire
- Michigan Technological University, Michigan Tech Research Institute, 3600 Green Ct., Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI, 48105, USA
| | - Nancy H F French
- Michigan Technological University, Michigan Tech Research Institute, 3600 Green Ct., Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI, 48105, USA
| | - Grant M Domke
- USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 1992 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA
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4
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Masudi SP, Odadi WO, Kimuyu DM, Gachuiri CK, Sensenig RL, Young TP. Wild herbivores and cattle have differing effects on postfire herbaceous vegetation recovery in an African savanna. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 34:e2975. [PMID: 38747033 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Fire and herbivory have profound effects on vegetation in savanna ecosystems, but little is known about how different herbivore groups influence vegetation dynamics after fire. We assessed the separate and combined effects of herbivory by cattle and wild meso- and megaherbivores on postfire herbaceous vegetation cover, species richness, and species turnover in a savanna ecosystem in central Kenya. We measured these vegetation attributes for five sampling periods (from 2013 to 2017) in prescribed burns and unburned areas located within a series of replicated long-term herbivore exclosures that allow six different combinations of cattle and wild meso- and megaherbivores (elephants and giraffes). Vegetation cover (grasses, mainly) and species richness were initially reduced by burning but recovered by 15-27 months after fire, suggesting strong resilience to infrequent fire. However, the rates of recovery differed in plots accessible by different wild and domestic herbivore guilds. Wildlife (but not cattle) delayed postfire recovery of grasses, and the absence of wildlife (with or without cattle) delayed recovery of forbs. Herbivory by only cattle increased grass species richness in burned relative to unburned areas. Herbivory by cattle (with or without wildlife), however, reduced forb species richness in burned relative to unburned areas. Herbivory by wild ungulates (but not cattle) increased herbaceous species turnover in burned relative to unburned areas. Megaherbivores had negligible modifying effects on these results. This study demonstrates that savanna ecosystems are remarkably resilient to infrequent fires, but postfire grazing by cattle and wild mesoherbivores exerts different effects on recovery trajectories of herbaceous vegetation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherril P Masudi
- Department of Animal Production, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
- Wageningen Institute of Animal Science, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Wilfred O Odadi
- Department of Natural Resources, Egerton University, Egerton, Kenya
- Mpala Research Center, Nanyuki, Kenya
| | - Duncan M Kimuyu
- Mpala Research Center, Nanyuki, Kenya
- Department of Natural Resources, Karatina University, Karatina, Kenya
| | | | - Ryan L Sensenig
- Mpala Research Center, Nanyuki, Kenya
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
| | - Truman P Young
- Mpala Research Center, Nanyuki, Kenya
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
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5
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Chen K, Hamilton C, Ries B, Lum M, Mayorga R, Tian L, Bahreini R, Zhang H, Lin YH. Relative Humidity Modulates the Physicochemical Processing of Secondary Brown Carbon Formation from Nighttime Oxidation of Furan and Pyrrole. ACS ES&T AIR 2024; 1:426-437. [PMID: 38751608 PMCID: PMC11091849 DOI: 10.1021/acsestair.4c00025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Light-absorbing secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), also known as secondary brown carbon (BrC), are major components of wildfire smoke that can have a significant impact on the climate system; however, how environmental factors such as relative humidity (RH) influence their formation is not fully understood, especially for heterocyclic precursors. We conducted chamber experiments to investigate secondary BrC formation from the nighttime oxidation of furan and pyrrole, two primary heterocyclic precursors in wildfires, in the presence of pre-existing particles at RH < 20% and ∼ 50%. Our findings revealed that increasing RH significantly affected the size distribution dynamics of both SOAs, with pyrrole SOA showing a stronger potential to generate ultrafine particles via intensive nucleation processes. Higher RH led to increased mass fractions of oxygenated compounds in both SOAs, suggesting enhanced gas-phase and/or multiphase oxidation under humid conditions. Moreover, higher RH reduced the mass absorption coefficients of both BrC, contrasting with those from homocyclic precursors, due to the formation of non-absorbing high-molecular-weight oxygenated compounds and the decreasing mass fractions of molecular chromophores. Overall, our findings demonstrate the unique RH dependence of secondary BrC formation from heterocyclic precursors, which may critically modulate the radiative effects of wildfire smoke on climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kunpeng Chen
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Caitlin Hamilton
- Department
of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Bradley Ries
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Michael Lum
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Raphael Mayorga
- Department
of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Linhui Tian
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Roya Bahreini
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Haofei Zhang
- Department
of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Ying-Hsuan Lin
- Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, California 92521, United States
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6
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Khairoun A, Mouillot F, Chen W, Ciais P, Chuvieco E. Coarse-resolution burned area datasets severely underestimate fire-related forest loss. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 920:170599. [PMID: 38309343 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/05/2024]
Abstract
Global coarse-resolution (≥250 m) burned area (BA) products have been used to estimate fire related forest loss, but we hypothesised that a significant part of fire impacts might be undetected because of the underestimation of small fires (<100 ha), especially in the tropics. In this paper, we analysed fire-related forest cover loss in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for 2016 and 2019 based on a BA product generated from Sentinel-2 data (20 m), which was observed to have significantly lower omission errors than the coarse-resolution BA products. Using these higher resolution BA datasets, we found that fires contribute to >46 % of total forest losses over SSA, more than twice the estimates from coarse-resolution BA products. In addition, burned forest areas showed more than twofold likelihood of subsequent loss compared to unburned ones. In moist tropical forests, the most fire-vulnerable biome, burning had even six times more chance to precede forest loss than unburned areas. We also found that fire-related characteristics, such as fire size and season, and forest fragmentation play a major role in the determination of tree cover fate. Our results reveal that medium-resolution BA detects more fires in late fire season, which tend to have higher impact on forests than early season ones. On the other hand, small fires represented the major driver of forest loss after fires and the vast majority of these losses occur in fragmented landscapes near forest edge (<260 m). Therefore medium-resolution BA products are required to obtain a more accurate evaluation of fire impacts in tropical ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amin Khairoun
- Universidad de Alcalá, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Florent Mouillot
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Wentao Chen
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Emilio Chuvieco
- Universidad de Alcalá, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
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7
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Gincheva A, Pausas JG, Edwards A, Provenzale A, Cerdà A, Hanes C, Royé D, Chuvieco E, Mouillot F, Vissio G, Rodrigo J, Bedía J, Abatzoglou JT, Senciales González JM, Short KC, Baudena M, Llasat MC, Magnani M, Boer MM, González ME, Torres-Vázquez MÁ, Fiorucci P, Jacklyn P, Libonati R, Trigo RM, Herrera S, Jerez S, Wang X, Turco M. A monthly gridded burned area database of national wildland fire data. Sci Data 2024; 11:352. [PMID: 38589374 PMCID: PMC11002030 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03141-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
We assembled the first gridded burned area (BA) database of national wildfire data (ONFIRE), a comprehensive and integrated resource for researchers, non-government organisations, and government agencies analysing wildfires in various regions of the Earth. We extracted and harmonised records from different regions and sources using open and reproducible methods, providing data in a common framework for the whole period available (starting from 1950 in Australia, 1959 in Canada, 1985 in Chile, 1980 in Europe, and 1984 in the United States) up to 2021 on a common 1° × 1° grid. The data originate from national agencies (often, ground mapping), thus representing the best local expert knowledge. Key opportunities and limits in using this dataset are discussed as well as possible future expansions of this open-source approach that should be explored. This dataset complements existing gridded BA data based on remote sensing and offers a valuable opportunity to better understand and assess fire regime changes, and their drivers, in these regions. The ONFIRE database can be freely accessed at https://zenodo.org/record/8289245 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrina Gincheva
- Regional Atmospheric Modelling (MAR) Group, Department of Physics, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum (CEIR), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
| | - Juli G Pausas
- Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación, Spanish National Research Council (CIDE-CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Andrew Edwards
- Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Antonello Provenzale
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources - National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IGG), Turin, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Artemi Cerdà
- Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, Valencia University, Valencia, Spain
| | - Chelene Hanes
- Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
| | - Dominic Royé
- Climate Research Foundation (FIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Emilio Chuvieco
- Universidad de Alcalá, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Florent Mouillot
- UMR CEFE, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Gabriele Vissio
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources - National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IGG), Turin, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Jesús Rodrigo
- Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Joaquin Bedía
- Departamento Matemática Aplicada y Ciencias de la Computación (MACC), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
- Grupo de Meteorología y Computación, Universidad de Cantabria, Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Santander, Spain
| | - John T Abatzoglou
- Management of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced, USA
| | | | - Karen C Short
- Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana, USA
| | - Mara Baudena
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
- Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council of Italy (CNR- ISAC), Torino, Italy
| | - Maria Carmen Llasat
- GAMA, Department of Applied Physics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Magnani
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources - National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IGG), Turin, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Matthias M Boer
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
- NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre, Richmond, NSW, Australia
| | - Mauro E González
- Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
- Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), Santiago, Chile
| | - Miguel Ángel Torres-Vázquez
- Regional Atmospheric Modelling (MAR) Group, Department of Physics, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum (CEIR), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | | | - Peter Jacklyn
- Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Renata Libonati
- Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Ricardo M Trigo
- Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Sixto Herrera
- Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Department Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - Sonia Jerez
- Regional Atmospheric Modelling (MAR) Group, Department of Physics, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum (CEIR), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Xianli Wang
- Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Marco Turco
- Regional Atmospheric Modelling (MAR) Group, Department of Physics, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum (CEIR), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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8
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Stoof CR, Kok E, Cardil Forradellas A, van Marle MJE. In temperate Europe, fire is already here: The case of The Netherlands. AMBIO 2024; 53:604-623. [PMID: 38315413 PMCID: PMC10920504 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-023-01960-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 09/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Landscape fires are usually not associated with temperate Europe, yet not all temperate countries record statistics indicating that actual risks remain unknown. Here we introduce new wildfire statistics for The Netherlands, and summarize significant events and fatalities. The period 2017-2022 saw 611 wildfires and 405 ha burned per year, which Copernicus' European Forest Fire Information System satellite data vastly underestimate. Fires burned more heathland than forest, were small (mean fire size 1.5 ha), were caused by people, and often burned simultaneously, in Spring and in Summer drought. Suppression, restoration and traffic delays cost 3 M€ year-1. Dozens of significant events illustrate fire has never been away and has major societal impact amidst grave concerns for firefighter safety. Since 1833, 31 fatalities were reported. A legal framework is needed to ensure continuity of recordkeeping, as the core foundation of integrated fire management, to create a baseline for climate change, and to fulfill international reporting requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cathelijne R Stoof
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Edwin Kok
- Nederlands Instituut Publieke Veiligheid, PO Box 7010, 6801 HA, Arnhem, The Netherlands
| | - Adrián Cardil Forradellas
- Technosylva Inc, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Joint Research Unit CTFC - AGROTECNIO - CERCA, Solsona, Spain
- Department of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
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9
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Fernández-García V, Franquesa M, Kull CA. Madagascar's burned area from Sentinel-2 imagery (2016-2022): Four times higher than from lower resolution sensors. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 914:169929. [PMID: 38199348 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Madagascar is one of the most burned regions in the world, to the point that it has been called the 'Isle of fire' or the 'Burning Island'. An accurate characterization of the burned area (BA) is crucial for understanding the true situation and impacts of fires on this island, where there is an active scientific debate on how fire affects multiple environmental and socioeconomic aspects, and how fire regimes should be in a complex context with differing interests. Despite this, recent advances have revealed that BA in Madagascar is poorly characterised by the currently available global BA products. In this work, we present, validate, and explore a BA database at 20 m spatial resolution for Madagascar covering the period 2016-2022. The database was built based on 75,010 Sentinel-2 images using a two-phase BA detection algorithm. The validation with independent long-term reference units showed Dice coefficients ≥79 %, omission errors ≤24 %, commission errors ≤18 %, and a relative bias ≥ - 8 %. An intercomparison with other available global BA products (GABAM, FireCCI51, C3SBA11, or MCD64) demonstrated that our product (i) exhibits temporal consistency, (ii) represents a significant accuracy improvement, as it reduces BA underestimations by about eightfold, (iii) yields BA estimates four times higher, and (iv) shows enhanced capability in detecting fires of all sizes. The observed BA spatial patterns were heterogeneous across the island, with 32 % of the grasslands burning annually, in contrast to other land cover types such as the dense tropical forest where <2 % burned every year. We conclude that the BA characterization in Madagascar must be addressed using imagery at spatial resolution higher than MODIS or Sentinel-3 (≥250 m), and temporal resolution higher than Landsat (16 days) to deal with cloudiness, the rapid attenuation of burn scars signals, and small fire patches.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Fernández-García
- Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, Université de Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland; Ecology, Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad de León, León 24071, Spain.
| | - M Franquesa
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IPE-CSIC), Zaragoza 50059, Spain
| | - C A Kull
- Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, Université de Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland
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10
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Scarpa C, Bacciu V, Ascoli D, Costa-Saura JM, Salis M, Sirca C, Marchetti M, Spano D. Estimating annual GHG and particulate matter emissions from rural and forest fires based on an integrated modelling approach. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 907:167960. [PMID: 37865246 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/23/2023]
Abstract
Rural and forest fires represent one of the most significant sources of emissions in the atmosphere of trace gases and aerosol particles, which significantly impact carbon budget, air quality, and human health. This paper aims to illustrate an integrated modelling approach combining spatial and non-spatial inputs to provide and enhance the estimation of GHG and particulate matter emissions from surface fires using Italy as a case study over the period 2007-2017. Three main improvements characterize the approach proposed in this work: (i) the collection and development of comprehensive and accurate data inputs related to burned area; (ii) the use of the most recent data on fuel type and load; and (iii) the modelling application to estimate fuel moisture, burning efficiency, and fuel consumption considering meteorological factors and combustion phases. On average, Italy's GHG and particulate matter emissions were 2621 Gg yr-1, ranging from a minimum of 772 Gg yr-1 in 2013 to a maximum of 7020 Gg yr-1 in 2007. Emissions from fire disturbances in broadleaf forests, shrublands, and agricultural fuel types account for about 76 % of the total. Results were compared with global and national inventories and showed good agreement, especially considering CO2 and particulate matter. The approach of this study added confidence in emission estimates, and the results can be utilized in decision support systems to address air quality management and fire impact mitigation policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla Scarpa
- National Research Council, Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), 07100 Sassari, Italy.
| | - Valentina Bacciu
- National Research Council, Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), 07100 Sassari, Italy; EuroMediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) Foundation, Impact on Agriculture, Forest, and Ecosystem Services (IAFES) Division, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
| | - Davide Ascoli
- University of Torino, Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy.
| | - Josè Maria Costa-Saura
- EuroMediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) Foundation, Impact on Agriculture, Forest, and Ecosystem Services (IAFES) Division, 07100 Sassari, Italy; University of Sassari, Department of Agriculture Sciences, 07100 Sassari, Italy; National Biodiversity Future Center, Palazzo Steri, Piazza Marina 61, 90133 Palermo, Italy.
| | - Michele Salis
- National Research Council, Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), 07100 Sassari, Italy.
| | - Costantino Sirca
- EuroMediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) Foundation, Impact on Agriculture, Forest, and Ecosystem Services (IAFES) Division, 07100 Sassari, Italy; University of Sassari, Department of Agriculture Sciences, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
| | - Marco Marchetti
- University of Study of Molise, Department of Biosciences and Territory, 86090 Pesche, Italy; Fondazione Alberitalia ETS, Via Isola Capaccio 77, 47018 Santa Sofia, Italy.
| | - Donatella Spano
- EuroMediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) Foundation, Impact on Agriculture, Forest, and Ecosystem Services (IAFES) Division, 07100 Sassari, Italy; University of Sassari, Department of Agriculture Sciences, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
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11
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Curto A, Nunes J, Milà C, Nhacolo A, Hänninen R, Sofiev M, Valentín A, Saúte F, Kogevinas M, Sacoor C, Bassat Q, Tonne C. Associations between landscape fires and child morbidity in southern Mozambique: a time-series study. Lancet Planet Health 2024; 8:e41-e50. [PMID: 38199722 DOI: 10.1016/s2542-5196(23)00251-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Epidemiological evidence linking exposure to landscape fires to child health remains scarce. We assessed the association between daily landscape fire smoke and child hospital visits and admissions in the Manhiça district, Mozambique, an area characterised by frequent forest and cropland fires. METHODS In this time-series analysis (2012-20), our primary metric for exposure to landscape fires was fire-originated PM2·5 from smoke dispersion hindcasts. We also assessed total and upwind fire exposure using daily satellite-derived fire density data. Daily numbers of hospital visits and admissions were extracted from an ongoing paediatric morbidity surveillance system (children aged ≤15 years). We applied quasi-Poisson regression models controlling for season, long-term trend, day of the week, temperature, and rainfall, and offsetting by annual population-time at risk to examine lag-specific association of fires on morbidity. FINDINGS A 10 μg/m3 increase in fire-originated PM2·5 was associated with a 6·12% (95% CI 0·37-12·21) increase in all-cause and a 12·43% (5·07-20·31) increase in respiratory-linked hospital visits on the following day. Positive associations were also observed for lag 0 and the cumulative lag of 0-1 days. Null associations were observed for hospital admissions. Landscape fires mostly occurred in forested areas; however, associations with child morbidity were stronger for cropland than for forest fires. INTERPRETATION Landscape fire smoke was associated with all-cause and respiratory-linked morbidity in children. Improved exposure assessment is needed to better quantify the contribution of landscape fire smoke to child health in regions with scarce air pollution monitoring. FUNDING H2020 project EXHAUSTION, Academy of Finland, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Generalitat de Catalunya, and Government of Mozambique and Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariadna Curto
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jovito Nunes
- Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Carles Milà
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain
| | - Arsenio Nhacolo
- Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique
| | | | | | - Antònia Valentín
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Saúte
- Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Manolis Kogevinas
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain; Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Quique Bassat
- Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain; Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, Pediatrics Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cathryn Tonne
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain; Department de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique.
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12
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Xue C, Krysztofiak G, Ren Y, Cai M, Mercier P, Fur FL, Robin C, Grosselin B, Daële V, McGillen MR, Mu Y, Catoire V, Mellouki A. A study on wildfire impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and regional air quality in South of Orléans, France. J Environ Sci (China) 2024; 135:521-533. [PMID: 37778824 DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2022.08.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Wildfire events are increasing globally which may be partly associated with climate change, resulting in significant adverse impacts on local, regional air quality and global climate. In September 2020, a small wildfire (burned area: 36.3 ha) event occurred in Souesmes (Loir-et-Cher, Sologne, France), and its plume spread out over 200 km on the following day as observed by the MODIS satellite. Based on measurements at a suburban site (∼ 50 km northwest of the fire location) in Orléans and backward trajectory analysis, young wildfire plumes were characterized. Significant increases in gaseous pollutants (CO, CH4, N2O, VOCs, etc.) and particles (including black carbon) were found within the wildfire plumes, leading to a reduced air quality. Emission factors, defined as EF (X) = ∆X/∆CO (where, X represents the target species), of various trace gases and black carbon within the young wildfire plumes were determined accordingly and compared with previous studies. Changes in the ambient ions (such as ammonium, sulfate, nitrate, chloride, and nitrite in the particle- and gas- phase) and aerosol properties (e.g., aerosol water content, aerosol pH) were also quantified and discussed. Moreover, we estimated the total carbon and climate-related species (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O, and BC) emissions and compared them with fire emission inventories. Current biomass burning emission inventories have uncertainties in estimating small fire burned areas and emissions. For instance, we found that the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) may underestimate emissions (e.g., CO) of this small wildfire while other inventories (GFED and FINN) showed significant overestimation. Considering that it is the first time to record wildfire plumes in this region, related atmospheric implications are presented and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chaoyang Xue
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), CNRS - Université Orléans - CNES (UMR 7328), Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Gisèle Krysztofiak
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), CNRS - Université Orléans - CNES (UMR 7328), Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Yangang Ren
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France; Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Min Cai
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Patrick Mercier
- Lig'Air- Association de surveillance de la qualité de l'air en région Centre-Val de Loire, Saint-Cyr-en-Val 45590, France
| | - Frédéric Le Fur
- Lig'Air- Association de surveillance de la qualité de l'air en région Centre-Val de Loire, Saint-Cyr-en-Val 45590, France
| | - Corinne Robin
- Lig'Air- Association de surveillance de la qualité de l'air en région Centre-Val de Loire, Saint-Cyr-en-Val 45590, France
| | - Benoit Grosselin
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Véronique Daële
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Max R McGillen
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France
| | - Yujing Mu
- Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Valéry Catoire
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), CNRS - Université Orléans - CNES (UMR 7328), Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France.
| | - Abdelwahid Mellouki
- Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité Environnement (ICARE), CNRS, Orléans Cedex 2 45071, France; Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
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13
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Zhong Q, Schutgens N, van der Werf GR, Takemura T, van Noije T, Mielonen T, Checa-Garcia R, Lohmann U, Kirkevåg A, Olivié DJ, Kokkola H, Matsui H, Kipling Z, Ginoux P, Le Sager P, Rémy S, Bian H, Chin M, Zhang K, Bauer SE, Tsigaridis K. Threefold reduction of modeled uncertainty in direct radiative effects over biomass burning regions by constraining absorbing aerosols. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadi3568. [PMID: 38039365 PMCID: PMC10691779 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi3568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
Absorbing aerosols emitted from biomass burning (BB) greatly affect the radiation balance, cloudiness, and circulation over tropical regions. Assessments of these impacts rely heavily on the modeled aerosol absorption from poorly constrained global models and thus exhibit large uncertainties. By combining the AeroCom model ensemble with satellite and in situ observations, we provide constraints on the aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) over the Amazon and Africa. Our approach enables identification of error contributions from emission, lifetime, and MAC (mass absorption coefficient) per model, with MAC and emission dominating the AAOD errors over Amazon and Africa, respectively. In addition to primary emissions, our analysis suggests substantial formation of secondary organic aerosols over the Amazon but not over Africa. Furthermore, we find that differences in direct aerosol radiative effects between models decrease by threefold over the BB source and outflow regions after correcting the identified errors. This highlights the potential to greatly reduce the uncertainty in the most uncertain radiative forcing agent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qirui Zhong
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Nick Schutgens
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Toshihiko Takemura
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Twan van Noije
- Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands
| | | | - Ramiro Checa-Garcia
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK
| | - Ulrike Lohmann
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Alf Kirkevåg
- Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway
| | | | | | - Hitoshi Matsui
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Zak Kipling
- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK
| | - Paul Ginoux
- NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | | | | | - Huisheng Bian
- Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) II, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Mian Chin
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Kai Zhang
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Susanne E. Bauer
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Kostas Tsigaridis
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA
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14
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Pullabhotla HK, Zahid M, Heft-Neal S, Rathi V, Burke M. Global biomass fires and infant mortality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2218210120. [PMID: 37253010 PMCID: PMC10266003 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218210120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Global outdoor biomass burning is a major contributor to air pollution, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Recent years have witnessed substantial changes in the extent of biomass burning, including large declines in Africa. However, direct evidence of the contribution of biomass burning to global health outcomes remains limited. Here, we use georeferenced data on more than 2 million births matched to satellite-derived burned area exposure to estimate the burden of biomass fires on infant mortality. We find that each additional square kilometer of burning is associated with nearly 2% higher infant mortality in nearby downwind locations. The share of infant deaths attributable to biomass fires has increased over time due to the rapid decline in other important causes of infant death. Applying our model estimates across harmonized district-level data covering 98% of global infant deaths, we find that exposure to outdoor biomass burning was associated with nearly 130,000 additional infant deaths per year globally over our 2004 to 2018 study period. Despite the observed decline in biomass burning in Africa, nearly 75% of global infant deaths due to burning still occur in Africa. While fully eliminating biomass burning is unlikely, we estimate that even achievable reductions-equivalent to the lowest observed annual burning in each location during our study period-could have avoided more than 70,000 infant deaths per year globally since 2004.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hemant K. Pullabhotla
- Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
- Department of Economics, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC3125, Australia
| | - Mustafa Zahid
- Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Sam Heft-Neal
- Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Vaibhav Rathi
- Department of Economics, Stockholm University, Stockholm106 91, Sweden
| | - Marshall Burke
- Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
- Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA02138
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15
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Kalisa W, Zhang J, Igbawua T, Henchiri M, Mulinga N, Nibagwire D, Umuhoza M. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of air pollution in East Africa. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 886:163734. [PMID: 37120019 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
East Africa's air pollution levels are deteriorating due to anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions and unfavorable weather conditions. This study investigates the changes and influencing factors of air pollution in East Africa from 2001 to 2021. The study found that air pollution in the region is heterogeneous, with increasing trends observed in pollution hot spots (PHS) while it decreased in pollution cold spots (PCS). The analysis identified four major pollution periods: High Pollution period 1, Low Pollution period 1, High Pollution period 2, and Low Pollution period 2, which occur during Feb-Mar, Apr-May, Jun-Aug and Oct-Nov, respectively. The study also revealed that long range transport of pollutants to the study area is primarily influenced by distant sources from the eastern, western, southern, and northern part of the continent. The seasonal meteorological conditions, such as high sea level pressure in the upper latitudes, cold air masses from the northern hemisphere, dry vegetation, and a dry and less humid atmosphere from boreal winter, further impact the transport of pollutants. The concentrations of pollutants were found to be influenced by climate factors, such as temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns. The study identified different pollution patterns in different seasons, with some areas having minimal anthropogenic pollution due to high vegetation vigor and moderate precipitation. Using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA), the study quantified the magnitude of spatial variation in air pollution. The OLS trends indicated that 66 % of pixels exhibited decreasing trends while 34 % showed increasing trends, and DFA results indicating that 36 %, 15 %, and 49 % of pixels exhibited anti-persistence, random, and persistence in air pollution, respectively. Areas in the region experiencing increasing or decreasing trends in air pollution, which can be used to prioritize interventions and resources for improving air quality, were also highlighted. It also identifies the driving forces behind air pollution trends, such as anthropogenic or biomass burning, which can inform policy decisions aimed at reducing air pollution emissions from these sources. The findings on the persistence, reversibility, and variability of air pollution can inform the development of long-term policies for improving air quality and protecting public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilson Kalisa
- Remote Sensing and Digital Earth Center, School of Computer Science and Technology, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China; Global Change and Disaster, Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
| | - Jiahua Zhang
- Remote Sensing and Digital Earth Center, School of Computer Science and Technology, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China; Global Change and Disaster, Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China.
| | - Tertsea Igbawua
- Department of Physics, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
| | - Malak Henchiri
- Remote Sensing and Digital Earth Center, School of Computer Science and Technology, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Narcisse Mulinga
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural development, University of Rwanda, Rwanda
| | - Deborah Nibagwire
- Department of Environmental Management, Pan African University of Life and Earth Sciences (PAULESI), Nigeria
| | - Mycline Umuhoza
- UNEP-Tongji Institute of environment for Sustainable Development, Shanghai 200092, China
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16
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Zheng B, Ciais P, Chevallier F, Yang H, Canadell JG, Chen Y, van der Velde IR, Aben I, Chuvieco E, Davis SJ, Deeter M, Hong C, Kong Y, Li H, Li H, Lin X, He K, Zhang Q. Record-high CO 2 emissions from boreal fires in 2021. Science 2023. [PMID: 36862792 DOI: 10.1126/science.ade0805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Abstract
Extreme wildfires are becoming more common and increasingly affecting Earth's climate. Wildfires in boreal forests have attracted much less attention than those in tropical forests, although boreal forests are one of the most extensive biomes on Earth and are experiencing the fastest warming. We used a satellite-based atmospheric inversion system to monitor fire emissions in boreal forests. Wildfires are rapidly expanding into boreal forests with emerging warmer and drier fire seasons. Boreal fires, typically accounting for 10% of global fire carbon dioxide emissions, contributed 23% (0.48 billion metric tons of carbon) in 2021, by far the highest fraction since 2000. 2021 was an abnormal year because North American and Eurasian boreal forests synchronously experienced their greatest water deficit. Increasing numbers of extreme boreal fires and stronger climate-fire feedbacks challenge climate mitigation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Zheng
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China.,State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China.,Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.,The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus
| | - Frederic Chevallier
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Hui Yang
- Department of Biogeochemical Integration, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | | | - Yang Chen
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Ivar R van der Velde
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Ilse Aben
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Emilio Chuvieco
- Universidad de Alcalá, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Steven J Davis
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.,Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Merritt Deeter
- Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307 USA
| | - Chaopeng Hong
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China.,State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Yawen Kong
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Haiyan Li
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Hui Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Xin Lin
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Kebin He
- State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.,State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Qiang Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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17
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Goll DS, Bauters M, Zhang H, Ciais P, Balkanski Y, Wang R, Verbeeck H. Atmospheric phosphorus deposition amplifies carbon sinks in simulations of a tropical forest in Central Africa. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 237:2054-2068. [PMID: 36226674 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Spatial redistribution of nutrients by atmospheric transport and deposition could theoretically act as a continental-scale mechanism which counteracts declines in soil fertility caused by nutrient lock-up in accumulating biomass in tropical forests in Central Africa. However, to what extent it affects carbon sinks in forests remains elusive. Here we use a terrestrial biosphere model to quantify the impact of changes in atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus deposition on plant nutrition and biomass carbon sink at a typical lowland forest site in Central Africa. We find that the increase in nutrient deposition since the 1980s could have contributed to the carbon sink over the past four decades up to an extent which is similar to that from the combined effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change. Furthermore, we find that the modelled carbon sink responds to changes in phosphorus deposition, but less so to nitrogen deposition. The pronounced response of ecosystem productivity to changes in nutrient deposition illustrates a potential mechanism that could control carbon sinks in Central Africa. Monitoring the quantity and quality of nutrient deposition is needed in this region, given the changes in nutrient deposition due to human land use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel S Goll
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CNRS, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Université Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France
| | - Marijn Bauters
- Isotope Bioscience Laboratory-ISOFYS, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
- Department of Environment, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology - CAVElab, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Haicheng Zhang
- Department Geoscience, Environment & Society, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, 1050, Belgium
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CNRS, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Université Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France
| | - Yves Balkanski
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CNRS, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Université Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France
| | - Rong Wang
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
- Integrated Research on Disaster Risk International Center of Excellence on Risk Interconnectivity and Governance on Weather/Climate Extremes Impact and Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
- Center for Urban Eco-Planning & Design, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
- Big Data Institute for Carbon Emission and Environmental Pollution, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Hans Verbeeck
- Department of Environment, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology - CAVElab, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
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18
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Gordon JND, Bilsback KR, Fiddler MN, Pokhrel RP, Fischer EV, Pierce JR, Bililign S. The Effects of Trash, Residential Biofuel, and Open Biomass Burning Emissions on Local and Transported PM 2.5 and Its Attributed Mortality in Africa. GEOHEALTH 2023; 7:e2022GH000673. [PMID: 36743737 PMCID: PMC9884662 DOI: 10.1029/2022gh000673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the second leading risk factor of premature death in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use GEOS-Chem to quantify the effects of (a) trash burning, (b) residential solid-fuel burning, and (c) open biomass burning (BB) (i.e., landscape fires) on ambient PM2.5 and PM2.5-attributable mortality in Africa. Using a series of sensitivity simulations, we excluded each of the three combustion sources in each of five African regions. We estimate that in 2017 emissions from these three combustion sources within Africa increased global ambient PM2.5 by 2%, leading to 203,000 (95% confidence interval: 133,000-259,000) premature mortalities yr-1 globally and 167,000 premature mortalities yr-1 in Africa. BB contributes more ambient PM2.5-related premature mortalities per year (63%) than residential solid-fuel burning (29%) and trash burning (8%). Open BB in Central Africa leads to the largest number of PM2.5-attributed mortalities inside the region, while trash burning in North Africa and residential solid-fuel burning in West Africa contribute the most regional mortalities for each source. Overall, Africa has a unique ambient air pollution profile because natural sources, such as windblown dust and BB, contribute strongly to ambient PM2.5 levels and PM2.5-related mortality. Air pollution policies may need to focus on taking preventative measures to avoid exposure to ambient PM2.5 from these less-controllable sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janica N. D. Gordon
- Department of PhysicsNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
- Applied Sciences and Technology PhD programNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
| | - Kelsey R. Bilsback
- Department of Atmospheric ScienceColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCOUSA
- PSE Healthy EnergyOaklandCAUSA
| | - Marc N. Fiddler
- Department of ChemistryNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
| | - Rudra P. Pokhrel
- Department of PhysicsNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
- NOAA Chemical Sciences LaboratoryBoulderCOUSA
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental SciencesUniversity of Colorado BoulderBoulderCOUSA
| | - Emily V. Fischer
- Department of Atmospheric ScienceColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCOUSA
| | - Jeffrey R. Pierce
- Department of Atmospheric ScienceColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCOUSA
| | - Solomon Bililign
- Department of PhysicsNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
- Applied Sciences and Technology PhD programNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State UniversityGreensboroNCUSA
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19
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Cano IM, Shevliakova E, Malyshev S, John JG, Yu Y, Smith B, Pacala SW. Abrupt loss and uncertain recovery from fires of Amazon forests under low climate mitigation scenarios. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2203200119. [PMID: 36534807 PMCID: PMC9907153 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2203200119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Tropical forests contribute a major sink for anthropogenic carbon emissions essential to slowing down the buildup of atmospheric CO2 and buffering climate change impacts. However, the response of tropical forests to more frequent weather extremes and long-recovery disturbances like fires remains uncertain. Analyses of field data and ecological theory raise concerns about the possibility of the Amazon crossing a tipping point leading to catastrophic tropical forest loss. In contrast, climate models consistently project an enhanced tropical sink. Here, we show a heterogeneous response of Amazonian carbon stocks in GFDL-ESM4.1, an Earth System Model (ESM) featuring dynamic disturbances and height-structured tree-grass competition. Enhanced productivity due to CO2 fertilization promotes increases in forest biomass that, under low emission scenarios, last until the end of the century. Under high emissions, positive trends reverse after 2060, when simulated fires prompt forest loss that results in a 40% decline in tropical forest biomass by 2100. Projected fires occur under dry conditions associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a response observed under current climate conditions, but exacerbated by an overall decline in precipitation. Following the initial disturbance, grassland dominance promotes recurrent fires and tree competitive exclusion, which prevents forest recovery. EC-Earth3-Veg, an ESM with a dynamic vegetation model of similar complexity, projected comparable wildfire forest loss under high emissions but faster postfire recovery rates. Our results reveal the importance of complex nonlinear responses to assessing climate change impacts and the urgent need to research postfire recovery and its representation in ESMs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Martínez Cano
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
| | - Elena Shevliakova
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ08540
| | - Sergey Malyshev
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ08540
| | - Jasmin G. John
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ08540
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, FL33149
| | - Yan Yu
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, 100084, China
| | - Benjamin Smith
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Lund22100, Sweden
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW2751, Australia
| | - Stephen W. Pacala
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
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20
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Phelps LN, Andela N, Gravey M, Davis DS, Kull CA, Douglass K, Lehmann CER. Madagascar's fire regimes challenge global assumptions about landscape degradation. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:6944-6960. [PMID: 35582991 PMCID: PMC9790435 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Narratives of landscape degradation are often linked to unsustainable fire use by local communities. Madagascar is a case in point: the island is considered globally exceptional, with its remarkable endemic biodiversity viewed as threatened by unsustainable anthropogenic fire. Yet, fire regimes on Madagascar have not been empirically characterised or globally contextualised. Here, we contribute a comparative approach to determining relationships between regional fire regimes and global patterns and trends, applied to Madagascar using MODIS remote sensing data (2003-2019). Rather than a global exception, we show that Madagascar's fire regimes are similar to 88% of tropical burned area with shared climate and vegetation characteristics, and can be considered a microcosm of most tropical fire regimes. From 2003-2019, landscape-scale fire declined across tropical grassy biomes (17%-44% excluding Madagascar), and on Madagascar at a relatively fast rate (36%-46%). Thus, high tree loss anomalies on the island (1.25-4.77× the tropical average) were not explained by any general expansion of landscape-scale fire in grassy biomes. Rather, tree loss anomalies centred in forests, and could not be explained by landscape-scale fire escaping from savannas into forests. Unexpectedly, the highest tree loss anomalies on Madagascar (4.77×) occurred in environments without landscape-scale fire, where the role of small-scale fires (<21 h [0.21 km2 ]) is unknown. While landscape-scale fire declined across tropical grassy biomes, trends in tropical forests reflected important differences among regions, indicating a need to better understand regional variation in the anthropogenic drivers of forest loss and fire risk. Our new understanding of Madagascar's fire regimes offers two lessons with global implications: first, landscape-scale fire is declining across tropical grassy biomes and does not explain high tree loss anomalies on Madagascar. Second, landscape-scale fire is not uniformly associated with tropical forest loss, indicating a need for socio-ecological context in framing new narratives of fire and ecosystem degradation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanne N. Phelps
- School of GeoSciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Tropical Diversity, Royal Botanic Garden EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | - Niels Andela
- School of Earth and Environmental SciencesCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
| | - Mathieu Gravey
- Institute of Earth Surface DynamicsUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Dylan S. Davis
- Department of AnthropologyThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Christian A. Kull
- Institute of Geography and SustainabilityUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Kristina Douglass
- Department of AnthropologyThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkPennsylvaniaUSA
- Institutes of Energy and the EnvironmentThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Caroline E. R. Lehmann
- School of GeoSciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Tropical Diversity, Royal Botanic Garden EdinburghEdinburghUK
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21
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Kirago L, Gustafsson Ö, Gaita SM, Haslett SL, deWitt HL, Gasore J, Potter KE, Prinn RG, Rupakheti M, Ndikubwimana JDD, Safari B, Andersson A. Atmospheric Black Carbon Loadings and Sources over Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa Are Governed by the Regional Savanna Fires. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2022; 56:15460-15469. [PMID: 36309910 PMCID: PMC9670846 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 10/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Vast black carbon (BC) emissions from sub-Saharan Africa are perceived to warm the regional climate, impact rainfall patterns, and impair human respiratory health. However, the magnitudes of these perturbations are ill-constrained, largely due to limited ground-based observations and uncertainties in emissions from different sources. This paper reports multiyear concentrations of BC and other key PM2.5 aerosol constituents from the Rwanda Climate Observatory, serving as a regional receptor site. We find a strong seasonal cycle for all investigated chemical species, where the maxima coincide with large-scale upwind savanna fires. BC concentrations show notable interannual variability, with no clear long-term trend. The Δ14C and δ13C signatures of BC unambiguously show highly elevated biomass burning contributions, up to 93 ± 3%, with a clear and strong savanna burning imprint. We further observe a near-equal contribution from C3 and C4 plants, irrespective of air mass source region or season. In addition, the study provides improved relative emission factors of key aerosol components, organic carbon (OC), K+, and NO3-, in savanna-fires-influenced background atmosphere. Altogether, we report quantitative source constraints on Eastern Africa BC emissions, with implications for parameterization of satellite fire and bottom-up emission inventories as well as regional climate and chemical transport modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonard Kirago
- Department
of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin
Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Örjan Gustafsson
- Department
of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin
Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Samuel M. Gaita
- Department
of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin
Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sophie L. Haslett
- Department
of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin
Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
| | - H. Langley deWitt
- Center
for Global Change Science, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 54-1312, Cambridge, Massachusetts02139, United States
| | - Jimmy Gasore
- Center
for Global Change Science, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 54-1312, Cambridge, Massachusetts02139, United States
- Climate
Secretariat, Ministry of Education, 622Kigali, Rwanda
- Physics
Department, School of Physics, College of
Science and Technology, University of Rwanda, 4285Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Katherine E. Potter
- Center
for Global Change Science, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 54-1312, Cambridge, Massachusetts02139, United States
| | - Ronald G. Prinn
- Center
for Global Change Science, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 54-1312, Cambridge, Massachusetts02139, United States
| | - Maheswar Rupakheti
- Institute
for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), 14467Potsdam, Germany
| | | | - Bonfils Safari
- Physics
Department, School of Physics, College of
Science and Technology, University of Rwanda, 4285Kigali, Rwanda
| | - August Andersson
- Department
of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin
Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691Stockholm, Sweden
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22
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Chuvieco E, Roteta E, Sali M, Stroppiana D, Boettcher M, Kirches G, Storm T, Khairoun A, Pettinari ML, Franquesa M, Albergel C. Building a small fire database for Sub-Saharan Africa from Sentinel-2 high-resolution images. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 845:157139. [PMID: 35817109 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Coarse resolution sensors are not very sensitive at detecting small fire patches, making current estimations of global burned areas (BA) very conservative. Using medium or high-resolution sensors to generate BA products becomes then a priority, particularly in areas where fires tend to be small and frequent. Building on previous work that developed a small fire dataset (SFD) for Sub-Saharan Africa for 2016, this paper presents a new version of the dataset for 2019 using the two Sentinel-2 satellites (A and B) and VIIRS active fires. Total estimated BA was 4.8 Mkm2. This value was much higher than estimations from two global, coarser-spatial resolution BA products based on MODIS data for the same area and period: 80 % greater than estimates from FireCCI51 (based on MODIS 250 m bands) and 120 % larger than MCD64A1 (based on MODIS 500 m bands). The main differences were observed in those months with higher fire occurrence (November to January for the Northern Hemisphere regions and June to September for the Southern Hemisphere ones). Accuracy assessment of the SFD product was based on a novel sampling strategy designed to obtain independent fire reference perimeters. Validation results showed remarkable high accuracy values comparing to existing global BA products. Overall omission errors (OE) were estimated as 8.5 %, commission errors (CE) as 15.0 %, with a Dice Coefficient of 87.7 %. All of these estimations implied significant improvements over the global, coarser spatial resolution BA products (OE > 50 % and CE > 20 % for the same area and period), as well as over the previous SFD product for 2016 of the same area, generated from a single Sentinel-2 satellite and MODIS active fires (OE = 26.5 % and CE = 19.3 %). Temporal accuracies greatly increased as well with the new product, with 92.5 % of fires detected within the first 10 days of occurrence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Chuvieco
- Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, C/Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
| | - Ekhi Roteta
- University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology, Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Matteo Sali
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (CNR-IREA), Via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Daniela Stroppiana
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (CNR-IREA), Via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Martin Boettcher
- Brockmann Consult GmbH, Chrysanderstraße 1, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Grit Kirches
- Brockmann Consult GmbH, Chrysanderstraße 1, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Storm
- Brockmann Consult GmbH, Chrysanderstraße 1, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Amin Khairoun
- Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, C/Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - M Lucrecia Pettinari
- Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, C/Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Magí Franquesa
- Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, C/Colegios 2, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Clément Albergel
- European Space Agency Climate Office, ECSAT, Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, Didcot OX11 0FD, UK
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23
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Pai SJ, Heald CL, Coe H, Brooks J, Shephard MW, Dammers E, Apte JS, Luo G, Yu F, Holmes CD, Venkataraman C, Sadavarte P, Tibrewal K. Compositional Constraints are Vital for Atmospheric PM 2.5 Source Attribution over India. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2022; 6:2432-2445. [PMID: 36303716 PMCID: PMC9590233 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 07/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
India experiences some of the highest levels of ambient PM2.5 aerosol pollution in the world. However, due to the historical dearth of in situ measurements, chemical transport models that are often used to estimate PM2.5 exposure over the region are rarely evaluated. Here, we conduct a novel model comparison with speciated airborne measurements of fine aerosol, revealing large biases in the ammonium and nitrate simulations. To address this, we incorporate process-level changes to the model and use satellite observations from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) to constrain ammonia and nitrogen oxide emissions. The resulting simulation demonstrates significantly lower bias (NMBModified: 0.19; NMBBase: 0.61) when validated against the airborne aerosol measurements, particularly for the nitrate (NMBModified: 0.08; NMBBase: 1.64) and ammonium simulation (NMBModified: 0.49; NMBBase: 0.90). We use this validated simulation to estimate a population-weighted annual PM2.5 exposure of 61.4 μg m-3, with the RCO (residential, commercial, and other) and energy sectors contributing 21% and 19%, respectively, resulting in an estimated 961,000 annual PM2.5-attributable deaths. Regional exposure and sectoral source contributions differ meaningfully in the improved simulation (compared to the baseline simulation). Our work highlights the critical role of speciated observational constraints in developing accurate model-based PM2.5 aerosol source attribution for health assessments and air quality management in India.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sidhant J. Pai
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Colette L. Heald
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department
of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Hugh Coe
- Centre
for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - James Brooks
- Centre
for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Mark W. Shephard
- Environment
and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., North York, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada
| | - Enrico Dammers
- Environment
and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., North York, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada
- Climate,
Air and Sustainability, Netherlands Organization
for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Princetonlaan 6, 3584 CB Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Joshua S. Apte
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, 760 Davis Hall, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- School
of Public Health, University of California, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94704, United States
| | - Gan Luo
- Atmospheric
Sciences Research Center, University at
Albany, 1220 Washington Ave., Albany, New York 12226, United
States
| | - Fangqun Yu
- Atmospheric
Sciences Research Center, University at
Albany, 1220 Washington Ave., Albany, New York 12226, United
States
| | - Christopher D. Holmes
- Department
of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, 1011 Academic Way, Tallahassee, Florida 32304, United
States
| | - Chandra Venkataraman
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay, Main Building, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India
- Interdisciplinary
Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India
| | - Pankaj Sadavarte
- Interdisciplinary
Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India
- Institute for Advanced Sustainability
Studies (IASS), Berliner
Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Kushal Tibrewal
- Interdisciplinary
Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India
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24
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Pereira JMC, Oom D, Silva PC, Benali A. Wild, tamed, and domesticated: Three fire macroregimes for global pyrogeography in the Anthropocene. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2588. [PMID: 35334132 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Climate and natural vegetation dynamics are key drivers of global vegetation fire, but anthropogenic burning now prevails over vast areas of the planet. Fire regime classification and mapping may contribute towards improved understanding of relationships between those fire drivers. We used 15 years of daily active fire data from the MODIS fire product (MCD14ML, collection 6) to create global maps of six fire descriptors (incidence, size inequality, season length, interannual variability, intensity, and fire season modality). Using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical agglomerative clustering, we identified three fire macroregimes: Wild, Tamed, and Domesticated, each of which splitting into prototypical and transitional regimes. Interpretation of the six fire regimes in terms of their main drivers relied on the global maps of anthromes and Köppen climate types. The analysis yielded a two-dimensional space where the principal dimension of variability is primarily defined by interannual variability in fire activity and fire season length, and the secondary axis is based mainly on fire incidence. The Wild fire macroregime occurs mostly in cold wildlands, where burning is sporadic and fire seasons are short. Tamed fires predominate in seasonally dry tropical rangelands and croplands with high fire incidence. Domesticated fires are characteristic of humid, warm temperate and tropical croplands and villages with low fire incidence. The Tamed and Domesticated fire macroregimes, representing managed burning, account for 86% of all active fires in our dataset and for 70% of the global burnable area. Fourteen percent of active fires were found in the cold wildlands, and in the rangelands and forests of steppe and desert climates of the Wild macroregime. These results highlight the extent of human control over global pyrogeography in the Anthropocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- José M C Pereira
- Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Duarte Oom
- Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Pedro C Silva
- Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Akli Benali
- Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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25
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O'Sullivan M, Friedlingstein P, Sitch S, Anthoni P, Arneth A, Arora VK, Bastrikov V, Delire C, Goll DS, Jain A, Kato E, Kennedy D, Knauer J, Lienert S, Lombardozzi D, McGuire PC, Melton JR, Nabel JEMS, Pongratz J, Poulter B, Séférian R, Tian H, Vuichard N, Walker AP, Yuan W, Yue X, Zaehle S. Process-oriented analysis of dominant sources of uncertainty in the land carbon sink. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4781. [PMID: 35970991 PMCID: PMC9378641 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32416-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The observed global net land carbon sink is captured by current land models. All models agree that atmospheric CO2 and nitrogen deposition driven gains in carbon stocks are partially offset by climate and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) losses. However, there is a lack of consensus in the partitioning of the sink between vegetation and soil, where models do not even agree on the direction of change in carbon stocks over the past 60 years. This uncertainty is driven by plant productivity, allocation, and turnover response to atmospheric CO2 (and to a smaller extent to LULCC), and the response of soil to LULCC (and to a lesser extent climate). Overall, differences in turnover explain ~70% of model spread in both vegetation and soil carbon changes. Further analysis of internal plant and soil (individual pools) cycling is needed to reduce uncertainty in the controlling processes behind the global land carbon sink. The global net land sink is relatively well constrained. However, the responsible drivers and above/below-ground partitioning are highly uncertain. Model issues regarding turnover of individual plant and soil components are responsible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael O'Sullivan
- College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK.
| | - Pierre Friedlingstein
- College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK.,Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CNRS-ENS-UPMC-X, Paris, France
| | - Stephen Sitch
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK
| | - Peter Anthoni
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research/Atmospheric Environmental Research, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
| | - Almut Arneth
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research/Atmospheric Environmental Research, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
| | - Vivek K Arora
- Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, BC, Canada
| | - Vladislav Bastrikov
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Christine Delire
- CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
| | - Daniel S Goll
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Atul Jain
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61821, USA
| | - Etsushi Kato
- Institute of Applied Energy (IAE), Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-0003, Japan
| | - Daniel Kennedy
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate and Global Dynamics, Terrestrial Sciences Section, Boulder, CO, 80305, USA
| | - Jürgen Knauer
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.,CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Canberra, ACT, 2101, Australia
| | - Sebastian Lienert
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Danica Lombardozzi
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate and Global Dynamics, Terrestrial Sciences Section, Boulder, CO, 80305, USA
| | | | - Joe R Melton
- Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, BC, Canada
| | - Julia E M S Nabel
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstr. 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Julia Pongratz
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstr. 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.,Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Luisenstr. 37, 80333, München, Germany
| | - Benjamin Poulter
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
| | - Roland Séférian
- CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
| | - Hanqin Tian
- Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA
| | - Nicolas Vuichard
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Anthony P Walker
- Climate Change Science Institute & Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA
| | - Wenping Yuan
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong, 510245, China
| | - Xu Yue
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China
| | - Sönke Zaehle
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
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Development of a Novel Burned-Area Subpixel Mapping (BASM) Workflow for Fire Scar Detection at Subpixel Level. REMOTE SENSING 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/rs14153546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The accurate detection of burned forest area is essential for post-fire management and assessment, and for quantifying carbon budgets. Therefore, it is imperative to map burned areas accurately. Currently, there are few burned-area products around the world. Researchers have mapped burned areas directly at the pixel level that is usually a mixture of burned area and other land cover types. In order to improve the burned area mapping at subpixel level, we proposed a Burned Area Subpixel Mapping (BASM) workflow to map burned areas at the subpixel level. We then applied the workflow to Sentinel 2 data sets to obtain burned area mapping at subpixel level. In this study, the information of true fire scar was provided by the Department of Emergency Management of Hunan Province, China. To validate the accuracy of the BASM workflow for detecting burned areas at the subpixel level, we applied the workflow to the Sentinel 2 image data and then compared the detected burned area at subpixel level with in situ measurements at fifteen fire-scar reference sites located in Hunan Province, China. Results show the proposed method generated successfully burned area at the subpixel level. The methods, especially the BASM-Feature Extraction Rule Based (BASM-FERB) method, could minimize misclassification and effects due to noise more effectively compared with the BASM-Random Forest (BASM-RF), BASM-Backpropagation Neural Net (BASM-BPNN), BASM-Support Vector Machine (BASM-SVM), and BASM-notra methods. We conducted a comparison study among BASM-FERB, BASM-RF, BASM-BPNN, BASM-SVM, and BASM-notra using five accuracy evaluation indices, i.e., overall accuracy (OA), user’s accuracy (UA), producer’s accuracy (PA), intersection over union (IoU), and Kappa coefficient (Kappa). The detection accuracy of burned area at the subpixel level by BASM-FERB’s OA, UA, IoU, and Kappa is 98.11%, 81.72%, 74.32%, and 83.98%, respectively, better than BASM-RF’s, BASM-BPNN’s, BASM-SVM’s, and BASM-notra’s, even though BASM-RF’s and BASM-notra’s average PA is higher than BASM-FERB’s, with 89.97%, 91.36%, and 89.52%, respectively. We conclude that the newly proposed BASM workflow can map burned areas at the subpixel level, providing greater accuracy in regards to the burned area for post-forest fire management and assessment.
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27
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Shuman JK, Balch JK, Barnes RT, Higuera PE, Roos CI, Schwilk DW, Stavros EN, Banerjee T, Bela MM, Bendix J, Bertolino S, Bililign S, Bladon KD, Brando P, Breidenthal RE, Buma B, Calhoun D, Carvalho LMV, Cattau ME, Cawley KM, Chandra S, Chipman ML, Cobian-Iñiguez J, Conlisk E, Coop JD, Cullen A, Davis KT, Dayalu A, De Sales F, Dolman M, Ellsworth LM, Franklin S, Guiterman CH, Hamilton M, Hanan EJ, Hansen WD, Hantson S, Harvey BJ, Holz A, Huang T, Hurteau MD, Ilangakoon NT, Jennings M, Jones C, Klimaszewski-Patterson A, Kobziar LN, Kominoski J, Kosovic B, Krawchuk MA, Laris P, Leonard J, Loria-Salazar SM, Lucash M, Mahmoud H, Margolis E, Maxwell T, McCarty JL, McWethy DB, Meyer RS, Miesel JR, Moser WK, Nagy RC, Niyogi D, Palmer HM, Pellegrini A, Poulter B, Robertson K, Rocha AV, Sadegh M, Santos F, Scordo F, Sexton JO, Sharma AS, Smith AMS, Soja AJ, Still C, Swetnam T, Syphard AD, Tingley MW, Tohidi A, Trugman AT, Turetsky M, Varner JM, Wang Y, Whitman T, Yelenik S, Zhang X. Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac115. [PMID: 36741468 PMCID: PMC9896919 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Increasing fire danger is a vexing problem that requires deep transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and inclusive partnerships to address. Here, we outline barriers and opportunities in the next generation of fire science and provide guidance for investment in future research. We synthesize insights needed to better address the long-standing challenges of innovation across disciplines to (i) promote coordinated research efforts; (ii) embrace different ways of knowing and knowledge generation; (iii) promote exploration of fundamental science; (iv) capitalize on the "firehose" of data for societal benefit; and (v) integrate human and natural systems into models across multiple scales. Fire science is thus at a critical transitional moment. We need to shift from observation and modeled representations of varying components of climate, people, vegetation, and fire to more integrative and predictive approaches that support pathways toward mitigating and adapting to our increasingly flammable world, including the utilization of fire for human safety and benefit. Only through overcoming institutional silos and accessing knowledge across diverse communities can we effectively undertake research that improves outcomes in our more fiery future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacquelyn K Shuman
- Terrestrial Sciences Section, Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
| | - Jennifer K Balch
- Earth Lab, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder,4001 Discovery Drive, Suite S348 611 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Rebecca T Barnes
- Environmental Studies Program, Colorado College, 14 East Cache la Poudre, Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, USA
| | - Philip E Higuera
- Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Dr., Missoula, MT, 59812, USA
| | - Christopher I Roos
- Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750336, Dallas, TX, 75275-0336, USA
| | - Dylan W Schwilk
- Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, 2901 Main St. Lubbock, TX, 79409-43131, USA
| | - E Natasha Stavros
- Earth Lab, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder,4001 Discovery Drive, Suite S348 611 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Tirtha Banerjee
- Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, 3084 Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, UC Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Megan M Bela
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder, 216 UCB, Boulder CO, 80309, USA
- NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Jacob Bendix
- Department of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University, 144 Eggers Hall, Syracuse NY 13244, USA
| | - Sandro Bertolino
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy
| | - Solomon Bililign
- Department of Physics, North Carolina A&T State University, 1601 E Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
| | - Kevin D Bladon
- Department of Forest Engineering, Resources, and Management, Oregon State University, 244 Peavy Forest Science Center; Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
| | - Paulo Brando
- Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, 3215 Croul Hall Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Robert E Breidenthal
- Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Box 352400, Seattle, WA 98195-2400, USA
| | - Brian Buma
- Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 171, P.O. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA
| | - Donna Calhoun
- Department of Mathematics, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725-1135, USA
| | - Leila M V Carvalho
- Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, 1832 Ellison Hall, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Megan E Cattau
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise State Environmental Research Building, 1295 W University Dr, Boise, ID 83706, USA
| | - Kaelin M Cawley
- National Ecological Observatory Network, Battelle, 1685 38th St., Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
| | - Sudeep Chandra
- Global Water Center, University of Nevada, 1664 N. Virginia, Reno, NV, 89509, USA
| | - Melissa L Chipman
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Syracuse University, 317 Heroy Geology Building, 141 Crouse Dr, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| | - Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Merced, Sustainability Research and Engineering, SRE 366, 5200 Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - Erin Conlisk
- Point Blue Conservation Science, 3820 Cypress Dr, Petaluma, CA 94954, USA
| | - Jonathan D Coop
- Clark School of Environment and Sustainability, Western Colorado University, 1 Western Way, Gunnison CO 81231, USA
| | - Alison Cullen
- Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington, Parrington Hall, Mailbox 353055, Seattle, WA 98195-3055, USA
| | - Kimberley T Davis
- Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Dr., Missoula, MT, 59812, USA
| | - Archana Dayalu
- Atmospheric and Environmental Research, 131 Hartwell Ave, Lexington MA 02421, USA
| | - Fernando De Sales
- Department of Geography, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4493, USA
| | - Megan Dolman
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise State Environmental Research Building, 1295 W University Dr, Boise, ID 83706, USA
| | - Lisa M Ellsworth
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA
| | - Scott Franklin
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street, Greeley, CO 80639, USA
| | - Christopher H Guiterman
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder, 216 UCB, Boulder CO, 80309, USA
- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), 325 Broadway, NOAA E/GC3, Boulder, Colorado 80305-3337, USA
| | - Matthew Hamilton
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Erin J Hanan
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, 1664 N. Virginia St. Mail Stop 0186. Reno, NV 89509, USA
| | - Winslow D Hansen
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, PO Box AB, Millbrook, NY 12545, USA
| | - Stijn Hantson
- Earth System Science Program, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Max Planck Tandem Group in Earth System Science, Universidad del Rosario, Carrera 26 # 63b-48, Bogota, DC 111221, Colombia
| | - Brian J Harvey
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, UW-SEFS, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Andrés Holz
- Department of Geography, Portland State University, 1721 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201, USA
| | - Tao Huang
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise State Environmental Research Building, 1295 W University Dr, Boise, ID 83706, USA
| | - Matthew D Hurteau
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, MSC03 2020, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Nayani T Ilangakoon
- Earth Lab, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder,4001 Discovery Drive, Suite S348 611 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Megan Jennings
- Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4614, USA
| | - Charles Jones
- Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, 1832 Ellison Hall, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | | | - Leda N Kobziar
- College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, 1031 N. Academic Way Coeur d'Alene, ID 83844, USA
| | - John Kominoski
- Institute of Environment and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, USA
| | - Branko Kosovic
- Weather Systems and Assessment Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
| | - Meg A Krawchuk
- Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Richardson Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Paul Laris
- Department of Geography, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA
| | - Jackson Leonard
- Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 2500 S. Pine Knoll Dr. Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA
| | | | - Melissa Lucash
- Department of Geography, University of Oregon, 1251 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1251, USA
| | - Hussam Mahmoud
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, 1372 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - Ellis Margolis
- U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, 15 Entrance Rd., Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
| | - Toby Maxwell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, 1910 University Dr. Boise ID 83725, USA
| | - Jessica L McCarty
- Department of Geography and Geospatial Analysis Center, Miami University, 217 Shideler Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
| | - David B McWethy
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, 226 Traphagen Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Rachel S Meyer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - Jessica R Miesel
- Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, 1066 Bogue Street Rm A286, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA
| | - W Keith Moser
- Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 2500 S. Pine Knoll Dr. Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA
| | - R Chelsea Nagy
- Earth Lab, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder,4001 Discovery Drive, Suite S348 611 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
| | - Dev Niyogi
- Jackson School of Geosciences, and Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2305 Speedway Stop C1160, Austin, TX 78712-1692, USA
| | - Hannah M Palmer
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, 5200 Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - Adam Pellegrini
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK
| | - Benjamin Poulter
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
| | - Kevin Robertson
- Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32312, USA
| | - Adrian V Rocha
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Campus Dr., Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Mojtaba Sadegh
- Department of Civil Engineering, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID, 83725, USA
| | - Fernanda Santos
- Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Road, P.O. Box 2008, MS-6038, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6038, USA
| | - Facundo Scordo
- Global Water Center and the Department of Biology, University of Nevada, 1664 N. Virginia, Reno, NV, 89509, USA
- Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO-CONICET-UNS), Florida 8000, Bahía Blanca, B8000BFW Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Joseph O Sexton
- terraPulse, Inc., 13201 Squires Ct., North Potomac, MD 20878, USA
| | - A Surjalal Sharma
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, 4296 Stadium Dr., Astronomy Dept Room 1113, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Alistair M S Smith
- Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences, College of Science, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3021, Moscow ID, 83843-3021, USA
- Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Science, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1133, Moscow, ID 83844-1133, USA
| | - Amber J Soja
- NASA Langley Research Center, NASA, 2 Langley Blvd, Hampton, VA 23681, USA
- National Institute of Aerospace, NASA, 100 Exploration Way, Hampton, VA 23666, USA
| | - Christopher Still
- Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Richardson Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Tyson Swetnam
- Data Science Institute, University of Arizona, 1657 E Helen St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Alexandra D Syphard
- Conservation Biology Institute, 10423 Sierra Vista Ave., La Mesa, CA, 91941, USA
| | - Morgan W Tingley
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, 621 Charles E Young Dr S #951606, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Ali Tohidi
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State University, Room 310-K, ENG Building, 1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95112, USA
| | - Anna T Trugman
- Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, 1832 Ellison Hall, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Merritt Turetsky
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Campus Box 450, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
| | - J Morgan Varner
- Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32312, USA
| | - Yuhang Wang
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Thea Whitman
- Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53711, USA
| | - Stephanie Yelenik
- Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 920 Valley Road, Reno NV, 89512, USA
| | - Xuan Zhang
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, 5200 Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95343, USA
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28
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Amoako EE, Gambiza J. Fire use practices, knowledge and perceptions in a West African savanna parkland. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0240271. [PMID: 35588120 PMCID: PMC9119518 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding people’s practices, knowledge and perceptions of the use of fire and fire regimes can inform fire management plans that could contribute to savanna conservation and sustainable management. We investigated the frequency of fire use, control and perceptions of fire regimes for selected livelihood and socio-cultural activities in six districts in the Guinea savanna of Ghana. The six districts were selected to have a good representation of fire prone areas in the region based on fire frequency data obtained from the CSIR Meraka Institute, South Africa. A multiple regression analysis showed that people’s use of fire for the selected socio-cultural activities from district, occupation, gender, age and ethnic group significantly predicted fire use for the activities R2 = 0.043, F (5,498) = 5.43, p < 0.000. Age and occupation added significantly to the use of fire. The study revealed that the majority of respondents (83%) across the study districts used fire once a year for at least one of the following activities: land preparation, weed/pest control, burning postharvest stubble, bush clearing around homesteads, firebreaks, charcoal burning and hunting. The study also showed a higher frequency of fire use for land preparation for cropping than for the other activities. Less than a fifth of the respondents (17%) indicated that they do not use fire for any of the selected activities. The majority of respondents (65%) mentioned that they controlled their use of fire to prevent destruction to property or injuring humans. The study revealed a higher frequency of fire use in the dry season for land preparation for cropping. However, respondents rated season of burning as the most important attribute, with little attention to the other attributes of a fire regime, contrary to what is theoretically recognized. Understanding traditional fire use practices in terms of how to regulate the mix of frequency, intensity/severity, season, size and type of fire for these and other socio-cultural purposes could help to mitigate and/or manage bushfires in West African savannas and enhance savanna conservation and management. Hence, the need to better understand people’s knowledge and perceptions of fire regimes in fire assisted socio-cultural practices in West Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Ekua Amoako
- Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Department of Ecotourism and Environmental Management, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
- * E-mail:
| | - James Gambiza
- Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
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29
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Reduced global fire activity due to human demography slows global warming by enhanced land carbon uptake. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2101186119. [PMID: 35533276 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101186119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
SignificanceFire is an increasing climate-driven threat to humans. While human demography can strongly modulate fire ignition rates or fire suppression, changes in CO2 released by fires feed back to climate. We show that human demography could reduce future fire activity, which would in turn attenuate global warming via an enhanced land carbon sink. This mitigation is strongest in a low-CO2-emission world, corresponding to ∼5 to 10 y of global CO2 emissions at today's levels by 2100. We highlight the strong role of human demography in global fire reduction and the potential for climate change mitigation by enhanced land carbon sequestration. We also note possible trade-offs, including loss of biodiversity in fire-dependent ecosystems and increases in severe fire events.
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30
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Menezes LS, de Oliveira AM, Santos FLM, Russo A, de Souza RAF, Roque FO, Libonati R. Lightning patterns in the Pantanal: Untangling natural and anthropogenic-induced wildfires. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 820:153021. [PMID: 35026277 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The identification of fire causes and characteristics is of fundamental importance to better understand fire regimes and drivers. Particularly for Brazil, there is a gap in the quantification of lightning-caused fires. Accordingly, this work is a novel probabilistic assessment of the spatial-temporal patterns of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Pantanal wetland. Here, remote sensing information such as VIIRS active fires, MODIS burned area (BA) and STARNET lightning observations from 2012 to 2017, were combined to estimate the location, number of scars and amount of BA associated with atmospheric discharges on a seasonal basis. The highest lightning activity occurs during summer (December-February), and the lowest during winter (June-August). Conversely, the highest fire activity occurred during spring (September-November) and the lowest during autumn (March-May). Our analysis revealed low evidence of an association between fires and lightning, suggesting that human-related activities are the main source of ignitions. Weak evidence of natural-caused fire occurrence is conveyed by the low spatial-temporal match of lightning and fire throughout the studied period. Natural-caused fires accounted for only 5% of the annual total scars and 83.8% of the BA was human-caused. Most of the fires with extension larger than 1000 ha were not related to lighting. Lightning-fires seem an important element of the summer fire regime given that around half of the total BA during this season may be originated by lightning. By contrast, in the rest of the year the lightning-fires represent a minor percentage of the fire activity in the region. The density of lightning-ignited fires varies considerably, being higher in the north part of the Pantanal. This work provides a basis for a better understanding of lightning-related fire outbreaks in tropical ecosystems, particularly wetlands, which is fundamental to improve region-based strategies for land management actions, ecological studies and modeling climatic and anthropogenic drivers of wildfires.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas S Menezes
- Departamento de Meteorologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Aline M de Oliveira
- Departamento de Meteorologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Filippe L M Santos
- Departamento de Meteorologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Clima e Ambiente (CLIAMB), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazônia (INPA) and Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA), Manaus, AM, Brazil
| | - Ana Russo
- Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Rodrigo A F de Souza
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Clima e Ambiente (CLIAMB), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazônia (INPA) and Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA), Manaus, AM, Brazil; Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, Escola Superior de Tecnologia, 69050-020 Manaus, AM, Brazil
| | - Fabio O Roque
- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Caixa Postal 549, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul CEP 79070-900, Brazil; Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4878, Australia
| | - Renata Libonati
- Departamento de Meteorologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
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Abstract
We identified four global fire regimes based on a k-means algorithm using five variables covering the spatial, temporal and magnitude dimensions of fires, derived from 19-year long satellite burned area and active fire products. Additionally, we assessed the relation of fire regimes to forest fuels distribution. The most extensive fire regime (35% of cells having fire activity) was characterized by a long fire season, medium size fire events, small burned area, high intensity and medium variability. The next most extensive fire regime (25.6%) presented a long fire season, large fire events and the highest mean burned area, yet it showed the lowest intensity and the least variability. The third group (22.07%) presented a short fire season, the lowest burned area, with medium-low intensity, the smallest fire patches and large variability. The fourth group (17.3%) showed the largest burned area with large fire patches of moderate intensity and low variability. Fire regimes and fuel types showed a statistically significant relation (CC = 0.58 and CC’ = 0.67, p < 0.001), with most fuel types sustaining all fire regimes, although a clear prevalence was observed in some fuel types. Further efforts should be directed towards the standardization of the variables in order to facilitate comparison, analysis and monitoring of fire regimes and evaluate whether fire regimes are effectively changing and the possible drivers.
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Abstract
Fires can have an anthropogenic or natural origin. The most frequent natural fire cause is lightning. Since anthropogenic and lightning fires have different climatic and socio-economic drivers, it is important to distinguish between these different fire causes. We developed random forest models that predict the fraction of anthropogenic and lightning fire incidences, and their burned area, at the level of the Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques level 3 (NUTS3) for Europe. The models were calibrated using the centered log-ratio of fire incidence and burned area reference data from the European Forest Fire Information System. After a correlation analysis, the population density, fractional human land impact, elevation and burned area coefficient of variation—a measure of interannual variability in burned area—were selected as predictor variables in the models. After parameter tuning and running the models with several train-validate compositions, we found that the vast majority of fires and burned area in Europe has an anthropogenic cause, while lightning plays a significant role in the remote northern regions of Scandinavia. Combining our results with burned area data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, we estimated that 96.5 ± 0.9% of the burned area in Europe has an anthropogenic cause. Our spatially explicit fire cause attribution model demonstrates the spatial variability between anthropogenic and lightning fires and their burned area over Europe and could be used to improve predictive fire models by accounting for fire cause.
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How Much of a Pixel Needs to Burn to Be Detected by Satellites? A Spectral Modeling Experiment Based on Ecosystem Data from Yellowstone National Park, USA. REMOTE SENSING 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/rs14092075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We present a simple modeling technique based on linear spectral mixture analysis to assess satellite detectability of sub-pixel burned area. Pixel observations are modeled using a linear combination of pure land covers, called endmembers. We executed an experiment using spectral data from Yellowstone National Park, USA. Using endmember samples from spectral libraries, pixel samples were assessed on burn detectability using the widely used differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). While individual samples yielded differing results for Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the average park-wide detectability of burned area was consistent across satellites. For the commonly used dNBR threshold of 0.15, the results indicated that detectability is reached when around a quarter of a pixel’s area is burned. However, a significant percentage of the modeled burned pixels remained undetectable, especially those with low pre-fire vegetation cover. This has consequences for burned area estimates, as smaller fires in sparsely vegetated terrain may remain undetected in moderate resolution burned area products.
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Machine learning-based observation-constrained projections reveal elevated global socioeconomic risks from wildfire. Nat Commun 2022; 13:1250. [PMID: 35318306 PMCID: PMC8940959 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28853-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Reliable projections of wildfire and associated socioeconomic risks are crucial for the development of efficient and effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. The lack of or limited observational constraints for modeling outputs impairs the credibility of wildfire projections. Here, we present a machine learning framework to constrain the future fire carbon emissions simulated by 13 Earth system models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), using historical, observed joint states of fire-relevant variables. During the twenty-first century, the observation-constrained ensemble indicates a weaker increase in global fire carbon emissions but higher increase in global wildfire exposure in population, gross domestic production, and agricultural area, compared with the default ensemble. Such elevated socioeconomic risks are primarily caused by the compound regional enhancement of future wildfire activity and socioeconomic development in the western and central African countries, necessitating an emergent strategic preparedness to wildfires in these countries. A new study develops a machine learning framework to observationally constrain CMIP6-simulated fire carbon emissions, finding a weaker increase in 21st-century global fires but higher increase in their socioeconomic risks than previously thought.
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35
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van Marle MJE, van Wees D, Houghton RA, Field RD, Verbesselt J, van der Werf GR. New land-use-change emissions indicate a declining CO 2 airborne fraction. Nature 2022; 603:450-454. [PMID: 35296848 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04376-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
About half of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions remain in the atmosphere and half are taken up by the land and ocean1. If the carbon uptake by land and ocean sinks becomes less efficient, for example, owing to warming oceans2 or thawing permafrost3, a larger fraction of anthropogenic emissions will remain in the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. Changes in the efficiency of the carbon sinks can be estimated indirectly by analysing trends in the airborne fraction, that is, the ratio between the atmospheric growth rate and anthropogenic emissions of CO2 (refs. 4-10). However, current studies yield conflicting results about trends in the airborne fraction, with emissions related to land use and land cover change (LULCC) contributing the largest source of uncertainty7,11,12. Here we construct a LULCC emissions dataset using visibility data in key deforestation zones. These visibility observations are a proxy for fire emissions13,14, which are - in turn - related to LULCC15,16. Although indirect, this provides a long-term consistent dataset of LULCC emissions, showing that tropical deforestation emissions increased substantially (0.16 Pg C decade-1) since the start of CO2 concentration measurements in 1958. So far, these emissions were thought to be relatively stable, leading to an increasing airborne fraction4,5. Our results, however, indicate that the CO2 airborne fraction has decreased by 0.014 ± 0.010 decade-1 since 1959. This suggests that the combined land-ocean sink has been able to grow at least as fast as anthropogenic emissions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margreet J E van Marle
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Deltares, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Dave van Wees
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Robert D Field
- Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jan Verbesselt
- Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Guido R van der Werf
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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36
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Comparing the Ability of Burned Area Products to Detect Crop Residue Burning in China. REMOTE SENSING 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/rs14030693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Burning crop residues is a common way to remove them during the final stages of crop ripening in China. To conduct research effectively, it is critical to reliably and quantitatively estimate the extent and location of a burned area. Here, we investigated three publicly available burned area products—MCD64A1, FireCCI 5.1, and the Copernicus Burnt Area—and evaluated their relative performance at estimating total burned areas for cropland regions in China between 2015 and 2019. We compared these burned area products at a fine spatial and temporal scale using a grid system comprised of three-dimensional cells spanning both space and time. In general, the Copernicus Burnt Area product detected the largest annual average burned area (37,095.1 km2), followed by MCD64A1 (21,631.4 km2) and FireCCI 5.1 (12,547.99 km2). The Copernicus Burnt Area product showed a consistent pattern of monthly burned areas during the study period, whereas MCD64A1 and FireCCI 5.1 showed frequent changes in monthly burned area peaks. The greatest spatial differences between all three products occurred in Northeast and North China, where cultivated land is concentrated. The burned area detected by Copernicus in Xinjiang Province was larger than that detected by the other two products. In conclusion, we found that all three products underestimated the amount of crop residues present in a burned area. This limits the ability of end users to understand fire-related impacts and burned area characteristics, and hinders them in making an informed choice of which product is most appropriate for their application.
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Fernandez-Marcos ML. Potentially Toxic Substances and Associated Risks in Soils Affected by Wildfires: A Review. TOXICS 2022; 10:31. [PMID: 35051073 PMCID: PMC8778774 DOI: 10.3390/toxics10010031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Revised: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The presence of toxic substances is one of the major causes of degradation of soil quality. Wildfires, besides affecting various chemical, physical, and biological soil properties, produce a mixture of potentially toxic substances which can reach the soil and water bodies and cause harm to these media. This review intends to summarise the current knowledge on the generation by wildfires of potentially toxic substances, their effects on soil organisms, and other associated risks, addressing the effects of fire on metal mobilisation, the pyrolytic production of potentially toxic compounds, and the detoxifying effect of charcoal. Numerous studies ascertained inhibitory effects of ash on seed germination and seedling growth as well as its toxicity to soil and aquatic organisms. Abundant publications addressed the mobilisation of heavy metals and trace elements by fire, including analyses of total concentrations, speciation, availability, and risk of exportation to water bodies. Many publications studied the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other organic pollutants in soils after fire, their composition, decline over time, the risk of contamination of surface and ground waters, and their toxicity to plants, soil, and water organisms. Finally, the review addresses the possible detoxifying role of charcoal in soils affected by fire.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Luisa Fernandez-Marcos
- Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain; ; Tel.: +34-982823119
- Institute of Agricultural Biodiversity and Rural Development, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain
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Tassew D, Fort S, Mebratu Y, McDonald J, Chu HW, Petersen H, Tesfaigzi Y. Effects of Wood Smoke Constituents on Mucin Gene Expression in Mice and Human Airway Epithelial Cells and on Nasal Epithelia of Subjects with a Susceptibility Gene Variant in Tp53. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2022; 130:17010. [PMID: 35072516 PMCID: PMC8785869 DOI: 10.1289/ehp9446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exposure to wood smoke (WS) increases the risk for chronic bronchitis more than exposure to cigarette smoke (CS), but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. OBJECTIVE The effect of WS and CS on mucous cell hyperplasia in mice and in human primary airway epithelial cells (AECs) was compared with replicate the findings in human cohorts. Responsible WS constituents were identified to better delineate the pathway involved, and the role of a tumor protein p53 (Tp53) gene polymorphism was investigated. METHODS Mice and primary human AECs were exposed to WS or CS and the signaling receptor and pathway were identified using short hairpin structures, small molecule inhibitors, and Western analyses. Mass spectrometric analysis was used to identify active WS constituents. The role of a gene variant in Tp53 that modifies proline to arginine was examined using nasal brushings from study participants in the Lovelace Smokers Cohort, primary human AECs, and mice with a modified Tp53 gene. RESULTS WS at 25-fold lower concentration than CS increased mucin expression more efficiently in mice and in human AECs in a p53 pathway-dependent manner. Study participants who were homozygous for p53 arginine compared with the proline variant showed higher mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) mRNA levels in nasal brushings if they reported WS exposure. The WS constituent, oxalate, increased MUC5AC levels similar to the whole WS extract, especially in primary human AECs homozygous for p53 arginine, and in mice with a modified Tp53 gene. Further, the anion exchange protein, SLC26A9, when reduced, enhanced WS- and oxalate-induced mucin expression. DISCUSSION The potency of WS compared with CS in inducing mucin expression may explain the increased risk for chronic bronchitis in participants exposed to WS. Identification of the responsible compounds could help estimate the risk of pollutants in causing chronic bronchitis in susceptible individuals and provide strategies to improve management of lung diseases. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9446.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dereje Tassew
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Susan Fort
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Program, Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Yohannes Mebratu
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jacob McDonald
- Applied Sciences, Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Hong Wei Chu
- Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado, USA
| | - Hans Petersen
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Program, Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Yohannes Tesfaigzi
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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Large contribution of biomass burning emissions to ozone throughout the global remote troposphere. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2109628118. [PMID: 34930838 PMCID: PMC8719870 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2109628118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Ozone is the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane but has a larger uncertainty in its radiative forcing, in part because of uncertainty in the source characteristics of ozone precursors, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic carbon that directly affect ozone formation chemistry. Tropospheric ozone also negatively affects human and ecosystem health. Biomass burning (BB) and urban emissions are significant but uncertain sources of ozone precursors. Here, we report global-scale, in situ airborne measurements of ozone and precursor source tracers from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography mission. Measurements from the remote troposphere showed that tropospheric ozone is regularly enhanced above background in polluted air masses in all regions of the globe. Ozone enhancements in air with high BB and urban emission tracers (2.1 to 23.8 ppbv [parts per billion by volume]) were generally similar to those in BB-influenced air (2.2 to 21.0 ppbv) but larger than those in urban-influenced air (-7.7 to 6.9 ppbv). Ozone attributed to BB was 2 to 10 times higher than that from urban sources in the Southern Hemisphere and the tropical Atlantic and roughly equal to that from urban sources in the Northern Hemisphere and the tropical Pacific. Three independent global chemical transport models systematically underpredict the observed influence of BB on tropospheric ozone. Potential reasons include uncertainties in modeled BB injection heights and emission inventories, export efficiency of BB emissions to the free troposphere, and chemical mechanisms of ozone production in smoke. Accurately accounting for intermittent but large and widespread BB emissions is required to understand the global tropospheric ozone burden.
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40
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Burned Area Classification Based on Extreme Learning Machine and Sentinel-2 Images. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/app12010009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Sentinel-2 satellite images allow high separability for mapping burned and unburned areas. This problem has been extensively addressed using machine-learning algorithms. However, these need a suitable dataset and entail considerable training time. Recently, extreme learning machines (ELM) have presented high precision in classification and regression problems but with low computational cost. This paper proposes evaluating ELM to map burned areas and compare them with other machine-learning algorithms broadly used. Several indices, metrics and training times were used to assess the performance of the algorithms. Considering the average of datasets, the best performance was obtained by random forest (DICE = 0.93; omission and commission = 0.08) and ELM (DICE = 0.90; omission and commission = 0.07). The training time for the best model was from ELM (1.45 s) and logistic regression (1.85 s). According to results, ELM was the best burned-area classification algorithm, considering precision and training time, evidencing great potential to map burned areas at global scales with medium-high spatial resolution images. This information is essential to fire-risk systems and burned-area records used to design prevention and fire-combat strategies, and it provides valuable knowledge on the effect of fires on the landscape and atmosphere.
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Abdalla K, Chivenge P, Ciais P, Chaplot V. Long-term (64 years) annual burning lessened soil organic carbon and nitrogen content in a humid subtropical grassland. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:6436-6453. [PMID: 34606136 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Burning has commonly been used to increase forage production and nutrients cycling in grasslands. However, its long-term effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) pools within the aggregates and the relation between aggregates-associated SOC and soil CO2 emissions need further appraisal. This study evaluated the effects of 64 years of annual burning on SOC and N dynamics compared to annual mowing and undisturbed treatments in a grassland experiment established in 1950. Soils were sampled from four depths representing the upper 30 cm layer and fractionated into macroaggregates, microaggregates and silt + clay fractions. The macroaggregates were further fractionated into three occluded fractions. The SOC in the bulk soil and aggregates were correlated to soil CO2 effluxes measured under field conditions. Compared to the undisturbed treatment, annual burning decreased aggregates stability, SOC and N in the upper 30 cm layer by 8%, 5% and 12%, respectively. Grassland mowing induced greater aggregates stability than burning only in the upper 5 cm. Burning also decreased SOC in the large macroaggregates (e.g., 0-5 cm) compared to mowing and the undisturbed grasslands but proportionally increased the microaggregates and their associated SOC. Soil N associated with aggregates decreased largely following grassland burning, for example, by 8.8-fold in the microaggregates within the large macroaggregates at 20-30 cm compared to the undisturbed grassland. Burning also increased soil CO2 emissions by 33 and 16% compared to undisturbed and mowing, respectively. The combustion of fresh C and soil organic matter by fire is likely responsible for the low soil aggregation, high SOC and N losses under burned grassland. These results suggested a direct link between grass burning and SOC losses, a key component for escalating climate change severity. Therefore, less frequent burning or a rotation of burning and mowing should be investigated for sustainable grasslands management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khatab Abdalla
- Chair of Agroecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
- Environment, Natural Resources and Desertification Research Institute, National Center for Research, Khartoum, Sudan
- School of Agricultural, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Pauline Chivenge
- School of Agricultural, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- African Plant Nutrition Institute UM6P Experimental Farm, Benguérir, Morocco
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de 1'Environnement/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, France
| | - Vincent Chaplot
- School of Agricultural, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat (LOCEAN), UMR 6159 CNRS/IRD/UPMC/MNHN, Institut de Recherche pour le eDéveloppement (IRD), Paris, France
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42
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A Preliminary Global Automatic Burned-Area Algorithm at Medium Resolution in Google Earth Engine. REMOTE SENSING 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/rs13214298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
A preliminary version of a global automatic burned-area (BA) algorithm at medium spatial resolution was developed in Google Earth Engine (GEE), based on Landsat or Sentinel-2 reflectance images. The algorithm involves two main steps: initial burned candidates are identified by analyzing spectral changes around MODIS hotspots, and those candidates are then used to estimate the burn probability for each scene. The burning dates are identified by analyzing the temporal evolution of burn probabilities. The algorithm was processed, and its quality assessed globally using reference data from 2019 derived from Sentinel-2 data at 10 m, which involved 369 pairs of consecutive images in total located in 50 20 × 20 km2 areas selected by stratified random sampling. Commissions were around 10% with both satellites, although omissions ranged between 27 (Sentinel-2) and 35% (Landsat), depending on the selected resolution and dataset, with highest omissions being in croplands and forests; for their part, BA from Sentinel-2 data at 20 m were the most accurate and fastest to process. In addition, three 5 × 5 degree regions were randomly selected from the biomes where most fires occur, and BA were detected from Sentinel-2 images at 20 m. Comparison with global products at coarse resolution FireCCI51 and MCD64A1 would seem to show to a reliable extent that the algorithm is procuring spatially and temporally coherent results, improving detection of smaller fires as a consequence of higher-spatial-resolution data. The proposed automatic algorithm has shown the potential to map BA globally using medium-spatial-resolution data (Sentinel-2 and Landsat) from 2000 onwards, when MODIS satellites were launched.
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Implementation of the Burned Area Component of the Copernicus Climate Change Service: From MODIS to OLCI Data. REMOTE SENSING 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/rs13214295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This article presents the burned area (BA) product of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Commission. This product, named C3SBA10, is based on the adaptation to Sentinel-3 OLCI images of a BA algorithm developed within the Fire Climate Change Initiative (FireCCI) project, which used MODIS data. We first reviewed the adaptation process and then analysed the results of both products for common years (2017–2019). Comparisons were performed using four different grid sizes (0.05°, 0.10°, 0.25°, and 0.50°). Annual correlations between the two products ranged from 0.94 to 0.99. Global BA estimates were found to be more similar when the two Sentinel-3 satellites were active (2019), as the temporal resolution was closer to that of the MODIS sensor. Global validation was performed using reference data derived from Landsat-8 images, following a stratified random sampling design. The C3SBA10 showed commission errors between 16 and 21% and omission errors from 48 to 50%, similar to those found in the FireCCI product. The temporal reporting accuracy was also validated using 19 million active fires. In total, 87% of the detections were made within 10 days after the fire by both products. The high consistency between both products ensures global BA data provision from 2001 to the present. The datasets are freely available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS) repository.
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Mallet M, Nabat P, Johnson B, Michou M, Haywood JM, Chen C, Dubovik O. Climate models generally underrepresent the warming by Central Africa biomass-burning aerosols over the Southeast Atlantic. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg9998. [PMID: 34623916 PMCID: PMC8500511 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg9998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The radiative budget, cloud properties, and precipitation over tropical Africa are influenced by solar absorption by biomass-burning aerosols (BBA) from Central Africa. Recent field campaigns, reinforced by new remote-sensing and aerosol climatology datasets, have highlighted the absorbing nature of the elevated BBA layers over the South-East Atlantic (SEA), indicating that the absorption could be stronger than previously thought. We show that most of the latest generation of general circulation models (GCMs) from the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) underestimates the absorption of BBA over the SEA. This underlines why many (~75%) CMIP6 models do not fully capture the intense positive (warming) direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere observed over this region. In addition, underestimating the magnitude of the BBA-induced solar heating could lead to misrepresentations of the low-level cloud responses and fast precipitation feedbacks that are induced by BBA in tropical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Mallet
- CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
| | - Pierre Nabat
- CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Martine Michou
- CNRM, Université de Toulouse, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France
| | - Jim M. Haywood
- Met Office, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK
- College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Science, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK
| | - Cheng Chen
- GRASP SAS, 59000 Lille, France
- Université de Lille, CNRS, UMR 8518, LOA–Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique, 59000 Lille, France
| | - Oleg Dubovik
- Université de Lille, CNRS, UMR 8518, LOA–Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique, 59000 Lille, France
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45
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Multi-Sensor, Active Fire-Supervised, One-Class Burned Area Mapping in the Brazilian Savanna. REMOTE SENSING 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/rs13194005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Increasing efforts are being devoted to understanding fire patterns and changes highlighting the need for a consistent database about the location and extension of burned areas (BA). Satellite-derived BA mapping accuracy in the Brazilian savannas is limited by the underestimation of burn scars from small, fragmented fires and high cloudiness. Moreover, systematic mapping of BA is challenged by the need for human intervention in training sample acquisition, which precludes the development of automatic-generated products over large areas and long periods. Here, we developed a multi-sensor, active fire-supervised, one-class BA mapping algorithm to address several of these limitations. Our main objective is to generate a long-term, detailed BA atlas suitable to improve fire regime characterization and validation of coarse resolution products. We use composite images derived from the Landsat satellite to generate end-of-season maps of fire-affected areas for the entire Cerrado. Validation exercises and intercomparison with BA maps from a semi-automatic algorithm and visual photo interpretation were conducted for the year 2015. Our results improve the BA mapping by reducing omission errors, especially where there is high cloud frequency, few active fires are detected, and burned areas are small and fragmented. Finally, our approach represents at least a 45% increase in BA mapped in the Cerrado, in comparison to the annual extent detected by the current coarse global product from MODIS satellite (MCD64), and thus, it is capable of supporting improved regional emissions estimates.
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Laris P. On the problems and promises of savanna fire regime change. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4891. [PMID: 34385438 PMCID: PMC8361073 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25141-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Laris
- Geography Department, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA.
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Shapiro AC, Bernhard KP, Zenobi S, Müller D, Aguilar-Amuchastegui N, d'Annunzio R. Proximate Causes of Forest Degradation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Vary in Space and Time. FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2021.690562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Forest degradation, generally defined as a reduction in the delivery of forest ecosystem services, can have long-term impacts on biodiversity, climate, and local livelihoods. The quantification of forest degradation, its dynamics and proximate causes can help prompt early action to mitigate carbon emissions and inform relevant land use policies. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is largely forested with a relatively low deforestation rate, but anthropogenic degradation has been increasing in recent years. We assess the impact of eight independent variables related to land cover, land use, infrastructure, armed conflicts, and accessibility on forest degradation, measured by the Forest Condition (FC) index, a measure of forest degradation based on biomass history and fragmentation that ranges from 0 (completely deforested) to 100 (intact). We employ spatial panel models with fixed effects using regular 25 × 25 km units over five 3-year intervals from 2002 to 2016. The regression results suggest that the presence of swamp ecosystems, low access (defined by high travel time), and forest concessions are associated with lower forest degradation, while built up area, fire frequency, armed conflicts result in greater forest degradation. The impact of neighboring units on FC shows that all variables within the 50 km spatial neighborhood have a greater effect on FC than the on-site spatial determinants, indicating the greater influence of drivers beyond the 25 km2 unit. In the case of protected areas, we unexpectedly find that protection in neighboring locations leads to higher forest degradation, suggesting a potential leakage effect, while protected areas in the local vicinity have a positive influence on FC. The Mann-Kendall trend statistic of occurrences of fires and conflicts over the time period and until 2020 show that significant increases in conflicts and fires are spatially divergent. Overall, our results highlight how assessing the proximate causes of forest degradation with spatiotemporal analysis can support targeted interventions and policies to reduce forest degradation but spillover effects of proximal drivers in neighboring areas need to be considered.
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van Wees D, van der Werf GR, Randerson JT, Andela N, Chen Y, Morton DC. The role of fire in global forest loss dynamics. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:2377-2391. [PMID: 33694227 PMCID: PMC8251961 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 02/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Fires, among other forms of natural and anthropogenic disturbance, play a central role in regulating the location, composition and biomass of forests. Understanding the role of fire in global forest loss is crucial in constraining land-use change emissions and the global carbon cycle. We analysed the relationship between forest loss and fire at 500 m resolution based on satellite-derived data for the 2003-2018 period. Satellite fire data included burned area and active fire detections, to best account for large and small fires, respectively. We found that, on average, 38 ± 9% (± range) of global forest loss was associated with fire, and this fraction remained relatively stable throughout the study period. However, the fraction of fire-related forest loss varied substantially on a regional basis, and showed statistically significant trends in key tropical forest areas. Decreases in the fraction of fire-related forest loss were found where deforestation peaked early in our study period, including the Amazon and Indonesia while increases were found for tropical forests in Africa. The inclusion of active fire detections accounted for 41%, on average, of the total fire-related forest loss, with larger contributions in small clearings in interior tropical forests and human-dominated landscapes. Comparison to higher-resolution fire data with resolutions of 375 and 20 m indicated that commission errors due to coarse resolution fire data largely balanced out omission errors due to missed small fire detections for regional to continental-scale estimates of fire-related forest loss. Besides an improved understanding of forest dynamics, these findings may help to refine and separate fire-related and non-fire-related land-use change emissions in forested ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dave van Wees
- Department of Earth SciencesVrije Universiteit AmsterdamAmsterdamThe Netherlands
| | | | | | - Niels Andela
- School of Earth and Environmental SciencesCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
| | - Yang Chen
- Department of Earth System ScienceUniversity of CaliforniaIrvineCAUSA
| | - Douglas C. Morton
- Biospheric Sciences LaboratoryNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltMDUSA
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