Improved biomass and burning efficiency factors for forest fire emissions estimation in central chile

Abstract. In an era of increasing wildfires frequency and intensity an accurate estimation of the emissions released to the atmosphere is essential to reduce their impacts. In this study, we improve the accuracy of our estimations by introducing field measurements of biomass and adapting the burning efficiency factors to different levels of burn severity computed from Sentinel-2 data. The biomass measured in the field complemented the data found in the literature. The emissions derived were compared with the emissions from the GFED product showing a good agreement, although GFED values were higher than ours, suggesting that GFED may overestimate the emissions due to their coarse resolution and the generalized factors applied to large ecosystems.

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Production of peroxy nitrates in boreal biomass burning plumes over Canada during the BORTAS campaign

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-16-3485-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (5) ◽

pp. 3485-3497 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marcella Busilacchio ◽

Piero Di Carlo ◽

Eleonora Aruffo ◽

Fabio Biancofiore ◽

Cesare Dari Salisburgo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forest ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Chemical Mechanism ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Fire Plumes ◽

Peroxy Nitrates ◽

In Fire ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The observations collected during the BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants over the Atlantic using Aircraft and Satellites (BORTAS) campaign in summer 2011 over Canada are analysed to study the impact of forest fire emissions on the formation of ozone (O3) and total peroxy nitrates ∑PNs, ∑ROONO2). The suite of measurements on board the BAe-146 aircraft, deployed in this campaign, allows us to calculate the production of O3 and of ∑PNs, a long-lived NOx reservoir whose concentration is supposed to be impacted by biomass burning emissions. In fire plumes, profiles of carbon monoxide (CO), which is a well-established tracer of pyrogenic emission, show concentration enhancements that are in strong correspondence with a significant increase of concentrations of ∑PNs, whereas minimal increase of the concentrations of O3 and NO2 is observed. The ∑PN and O3 productions have been calculated using the rate constants of the first- and second-order reactions of volatile organic compound (VOC) oxidation. The ∑PN and O3 productions have also been quantified by 0-D model simulation based on the Master Chemical Mechanism. Both methods show that in fire plumes the average production of ∑PNs and O3 are greater than in the background plumes, but the increase of ∑PN production is more pronounced than the O3 production. The average ∑PN production in fire plumes is from 7 to 12 times greater than in the background, whereas the average O3 production in fire plumes is from 2 to 5 times greater than in the background. These results suggest that, at least for boreal forest fires and for the measurements recorded during the BORTAS campaign, fire emissions impact both the oxidized NOy and O3, but (1 ∑PN production is amplified significantly more than O3 production and (2) in the forest fire plumes the ratio between the O3 production and the ∑PN production is lower than the ratio evaluated in the background air masses, thus confirming that the role played by the ∑PNs produced during biomass burning is significant in the O3 budget. The implication of these observations is that fire emissions in some cases, for example boreal forest fires and in the conditions reported here, may influence more long-lived precursors of O3 than short-lived pollutants, which in turn can be transported and eventually diluted in a wide area.

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Inter-comparison of elemental and organic carbon mass measurements from three North American national long-term monitoring networks at a co-located site

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-12-4543-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 4543-4560 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tak W. Chan ◽

Lin Huang ◽

Kulbir Banwait ◽

Wendy Zhang ◽

Darrell Ernst ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Total Carbon ◽

Carbonaceous Aerosol ◽

Thermal Method ◽

Monitoring Networks ◽

Sample Collection ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Additional Information

Abstract. Carbonaceous aerosol is a major contributor to the total aerosol load and being monitored by diverse measurement approaches. Here, 10 years (2005–2015) of continuous carbonaceous aerosol measurements collected at the Centre of Atmospheric Research Experiments (CARE) in Egbert, Ontario, Canada, on quartz-fiber filters by three independent networks (Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments, IMPROVE; Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network, CAPMoN; and Canadian Aerosol Baseline Measurement, CABM) were compared. Specifically, the study evaluated how differences in sample collection and analysis affected the concentrations of total carbon (TC), organic carbon (OC), and elemental carbon (EC). Results show that different carbonaceous fractions measured by various networks were consistent and comparable in general among the three networks over the 10-year period, even with different sampling systems/frequencies, analytical protocols, and artifact corrections. The CAPMoN TC, OC, and EC obtained from the DRI model 2001 thermal–optical carbon analyzer following the IMPROVE-TOR protocol (denoted as DRI-TOR) method were lower than those determined from the IMPROVE_A TOR method by 17 %, 14 %, and 18 %, respectively. When using transmittance for charring correction, the corresponding carbonaceous fractions obtained from the Sunset-TOT were lower by as much as 30 %, 15 %, and 75 %, respectively. In comparison, the CABM TC, OC, and EC obtained from a thermal method, EnCan-Total-900 (ECT9), were higher than the corresponding fractions from IMPROVE_A TOR by 20 %–30 %, 0 %–15 %, and 60 %–80 %, respectively. Ambient OC and EC concentrations were found to increase when ambient temperature exceeded 10 ∘C. These increased ambient concentrations of OC during summer were possibly attributed to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and forest fire emissions, while elevated EC concentrations were potentially influenced by forest fire emissions and increased vehicle emissions. Results also show that the pyrolyzed organic carbon (POC) obtained from the ECT9 protocol could provide additional information on SOA although more research is still needed.

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Assessing skill of operational forest fire emissions model

Eos ◽

10.1029/2012eo430015 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 93 (43) ◽

pp. 436-436

Author(s):

Colin Schultz

Keyword(s):

Forest Fire ◽

Fire Emissions

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Satellite-Based Analysis of Fire Events and Transport of Emissions in the Arctic

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18506 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anu-Maija Sundström ◽

Tomi Karppinen ◽

Antti Arola ◽

Larisa Sogacheva ◽

Hannakaisa Lindqvist ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gases ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Arctic Region ◽

Satellite Observations ◽

The Arctic ◽

Radiative Balance ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Smoke Plumes ◽

Absorbing Aerosols

Climate change is proceeding fastest in the Arctic region. During past years Arctic summers have been warmer and drier elevating the risk for extensive forest fire episodes. In fact, satellite observations show, that during past two summers (2018, 2019) an increase is seen in the number of fires occurring above the Arctic Circle, especially in Siberia. While human-induced emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases are the main driving factor of global warming, short-lived climate forcers or pollutants emitted from the forest fires are also playing an important role especially in the Arctic. Absorbing aerosols can cause direct arctic warming locally. They can also alter radiative balance when depositing onto snow/ice and decreasing the surface albedo, resulting in subsequent warming. Aerosol-cloud interaction feedbacks can also enhance warming. Forest fire emissions also affect local air quality and photochemical processes in the atmosphere. For example, CO contributes to the formation of tropospheric ozone and affects the abundance of greenhouse gases such as methane and CO2.This study focuses on analyzing fire episodes in the Arctic for the past 10 years, as well as investigating the transport of forest fire CO and smoke aerosols to the Arctic. Smoke plumes and their transport are analyzed using Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) from several satellite instruments: GOME-2 onboard Metop A and B, OMI onboard Aura, and TROPOMI onboard Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite. Observations of CO are obtained from IASI (Metop A and B) as well as from TROPOMI, while the fire observations are obtained from MODIS instruments onboard Aqua and Terra, as well as from VIIRS onboard Suomi NPP. &#160;In addition, observations e.g. from a space-borne lidar, CALIPSO, is used to obtain vertical distribution of smoke and to estimate plume heights.

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Pollution influences on atmospheric composition and chemistry at high northern latitudes: Boreal and California forest fire emissions

Atmospheric Environment ◽

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.08.026 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 44 (36) ◽

pp. 4553-4564 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

H.B. Singh ◽

B.E. Anderson ◽

W.H. Brune ◽

C. Cai ◽

R.C. Cohen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Fire ◽

Atmospheric Composition ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Northern Latitudes

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Boreal forest fires in 1997 and 1998: a seasonal comparison using transport model simulations and measurement data

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-4-1857-2004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 4 (7) ◽

pp. 1857-1868 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

N. Spichtinger ◽

R. Damoah ◽

S. Eckhardt ◽

C. Forster ◽

P. James ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forest ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Transport Model ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Measurement Data ◽

Atmospheric Composition ◽

Burned Area ◽

Strong Impact ◽

Tracer Transport ◽

Fire Emissions

Abstract. Forest fire emissions have a strong impact on the concentrations of trace gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. In order to quantify the influence of boreal forest fire emissions on the atmospheric composition, the fire seasons of 1997 and 1998 are compared in this paper. Fire activity in 1998 was very strong, especially over Canada and Eastern Siberia, whereas it was much weaker in 1997. According to burned area estimates the burning in 1998 was more than six times as intense as in 1997. Based on hot spot locations derived from ATSR (Along Track Scanning Radiometer) data and official burned area data, fire emissions were estimated and their transport was simulated with a Lagrangian tracer transport model. Siberian and Canadian forest fire tracers were distinguished to investigate the transport of both separately. The fire emissions were transported even over intercontinental distances. Due to the El Niño induced meteorological situation, transport from Siberia to Canada was enhanced in 1998. Siberian fire emissions were transported towards Canada and contributed concentrations more than twice as high as those due to Canada's own CO emissions by fires. In 1998 both tracers arrive at higher latitudes over Europe, which is due to a higher North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index in 1998. The simulated emission plumes are compared to CMDL (Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory) CO2 and CO data, Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol index (AI) data and Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) tropospheric NO2 and HCHO columns. All the data show clearly enhanced signals during the burning season of 1998 compared to 1997. The results of the model simulation are in good agreement with ground-based as well as satellite-based measurements.

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Comparison of approaches for reporting forest fire-related biomass loss and greenhouse gas emissions in southern Europe

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf12011 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 730 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Maria Vincenza Chiriacò ◽

Lucia Perugini ◽

Dora Cimini ◽

Enrico D'Amato ◽

Riccardo Valentini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Forest Fire ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Fire Effects ◽

Southern Europe ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Biomass Loss ◽

Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems

Wildfires are the most common disturbances in Mediterranean forest ecosystems that cause significant emissions of greenhouse gases as a result of biomass burning. Despite this, there is reasonably high uncertainty regarding the actual fraction of burnt biomass and the related CO2 and non-CO2 gas emissions released during forest fires. The aim of this paper is to compare existing methodologies adopted in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory reports of five of the most fire-affected countries of southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, France) with those proposed in the literature, to operationally estimate forest fire emissions, and to discuss current perspectives on reducing uncertainties in reporting activities for the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry sector under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Five selected approaches have been experimentally applied for the estimation of burnt biomass in forest fire events that occurred in Italy in the period 2008–2010. Approaches based on nominal rates of biomass loss can lead to an overly conservative value or, conversely, to underestimation of the fraction of burnt biomass. Uncertainties can be greatly reduced by an operational method able to assess inter-annual and local variability of fire effects on fire-affected forest types.

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