Australian Fire Emissions of Carbon Monoxide Estimated by Global Biomass Burning Inventories: Variability and Observational Constraints
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Maximilien J. Desservettaz↗
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Projections of wildfire risk and activities under 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C global warming scenarios
Wildfires are important ecosystem processes that have a significant impact on terrestrial vegetation, environment, and climate. This study investigates how future wildfire risk and activities could change under 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C warming scenarios relative to pre-industrial levels using a modified McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDIn) and the CLM4.5-BGC land surface model. Sixteen Earth System Models (ESMs) from CMIP5 and CMIP6 were employed to supply the variables of climate change under low, middle, and high greenhouse emission scenarios in the 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C scenarios. The ensemble means from the FFDIn and results from the CLM4.5-BGC with multiple forcings show that the dry areas in the southwestern US, Brazilian Highlands, and Arabian islands are projected to face higher wildfire risk with larger burned areas and more carbon emissions under a warmer climate. The Congo Basin and part of the Amazon could have a lower wildfire risk with smaller burned areas and less carbon emissions. The absolute changes in the projected FFDIn are small, although large increases are observed in boreal areas, particularly in the winter and spring. Burned area and carbon emissions are projected to increase in general in the boreal area but decrease in northeastern Asia. Compared to the 1.5 °C scenario, the wildfire risk and burned area levels are projected to increase under the 2.0 °C scenario except in the western Amazon. However, fire carbon emissions are projected to decrease more in tropical areas under the 2.0 °C scenario. The different change directions in eastern North America and eastern China produced by the FFDIn and CLM4.5-BGC suggest the potential effect of non-meteorological elements on fire activities.
1.5 °C and 2.0 °C warming↗
LAACI – Light Absorbing Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Experiment
The “Light Absorbing Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Experiment” project aimed at studying the interactions of light-absorbing aerosols from biomass burning (e.g., wildfires or prescribed fires) with clouds. The core of the project was carried out at the Michigan Technological University turbulent cloud chamber facility (hereafter referred to as the Pi-Chamber). Light-absorbing aerosols from biomass burning include black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) organic material.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Emissions of Black Carbon, Organic, and Inorganic Aerosols From Biomass Burning in North America and Asia in 2008
Reliable assessment of the impact of aerosols emitted from boreal forest fires on the Arctic climate necessitates improved understanding of emissions and the microphysical properties of carbonaceous (black carbon (BC) and organic aerosols (OA)) and inorganic aerosols. The size distributions of BC were measured by an SP2 based on the laser-induced incandescence technique on board the DC-8 aircraft during the NASA ARCTAS campaign. Aircraft sampling was made in fresh plumes strongly impacted by wildfires in North America (Canada and California) in summer 2008 and in those transported from Asia (Siberia in Russia and Kazakhstan) in spring 2008. We extracted biomass burning plumes using particle and tracer (CO, CH3CN, and CH2Cl2) data. OA constituted the dominant fraction of aerosols mass in the submicron range. The large majority of the emitted particles did not contain BC. We related the combustion phase of the fire as represented by the modified combustion efficiency (MCE) to the emission ratios between BC and other species. In particular, we derived the average emission ratios of BC/CO = 2.3 +/- 2.2 and 8.5 +/- 5.4 ng/cu m/ppbv for BB in North America and Asia, respectively. The difference in the BC/CO emission ratios is likely due to the difference in MCE. The count median diameters and geometric standard deviations of the lognormal size distribution of BC in the BB plumes were 136-141 nm and 1.32-1.36, respectively, and depended little on MCE. These BC particles were thickly coated, with shell/core ratios of 1.3-1.6. These parameters can be used directly for improving model estimates of the impact of BB in the Arctic.
Kondo, Y.↗
AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-ARc ARM Southern Great Plains control site- Lamont
This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ARc ARM Southern Great Plains control site- Lamont. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ARc ARM Southern Great Plains control site- Lamont produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - The ARM SGP Control site is located in the native tallgrass prairies of the USDA Grazinglands Research Laboratory near El Reno, OK. One of two adjacent 35 ha plots with identical towers, measurements at the US-ARc unburned plot are used as the experimental control. The second plot, US-Arb, was burned on 2005/03/08. Measurement comparisons between the control and burn plot are used to address questions regarding the effects of burning activities on carbon fluxes. The region evaded burning activities for at least 15 years. Current disturbances consist of only light grazing activities.
Torn, Margaret↗
TES: Modelling Microbes to Predict Post-Fire Carbon Cycling in the Boreal Forest across Burn Severities (Exploratory Proposal)
Wildfires in boreal ecosystems represent a globally significant ecological process that is expected to be sensitive to changing climate as well as forest management strategies, but is currently insufficiently understood and represented in models. We sought to determine whether linking belowground microbial community composition, size, and activity to aboveground properties of burn severity and plant community composition (upland jack pine and upland spruce) would allow us to better model post-fire soil CO 2 fluxes using the Carbon, Organisms, Rhizosphere and Protection in the Soil Environment (CORPSE) model. We used an integrated modelling experimental approach, with mechanistic laboratory experiments designed to inform models.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Estimating release of carbon from 1990 and 1991 forest fires in Alaska
An improved method to estimate the amounts of carbon released during fires in the boreal forest zone of Alaska in 1990 and 1991 is described. This method divides the state into 64 distinct physiographic regions and estimates areal extent of five different land covers: two forest types, peat land, tundra, and nonvegetated. The areal extent of each cover type was estimated from a review of topographic maps of each region and observations on the distribution of foreat types within the state. Using previous observations and theoretical models for the two forest types found in interior Alaska, models of biomass accumulation as a function of stand age were developed. Stand age distributions for each region were determined using a statistical distribution based on fire frequency, which was from available long-term historical records. Estimates of the degree of biomass combusted were based on recent field observations as well as research reported in the literature. The location and areal extent of fires in this region for 1990 and 1991 were based on both field observations and analysis of satellite (advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR)) data sets. Estimates of average carbon release for the two study years ranged between 2.54 and 3.00 kg/sq m, which are 2.2 to 2.6 times greater than estimates used in other studies of carbon release through biomass burning in boreal forests. Total average annual carbon release for the two years ranged between 0.012 and 0.018 Pg C/yr, with the lower value resulting from the AVHRR estimates of fire location and area.
Kaisischke, Eric S.↗
Unveiling dark brown carbon: The hidden light-absorbing aerosols from biomass burning
The global rise in wildfire severity highlights the significant warming impact of brown carbon aerosols. Further, new findings reveal water-insoluble “dark brown carbon” tar balls that absorb far more light than the previously studied water-soluble brown carbon, representing a major unaccounted factor in global Earth System Models.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Molecular column densities in selected model atmospheres
From an examination of predicted column densities, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The SiO ought to be visible in carbon stars which were generated from triple alpha burning, but absent from carbon stars generated from the CNO bi-cycle. (2) Variation in the observed relative strengths of TiO and ZrO is indicative of real differences in the ratio Ti/Zr. (3) The TiO/ZrO ratio shows a small variation as C/O and effective temperature is changed. (4) Column density of silicon dicarbide (SiC2) is sensitive to abundance, temperature, and gravity; hence all relationships between the strength of SiC2 and other stellar parameters will show appreciable scatter. There is however, a substantial luminosity effect present in the SiC2 column densities. (5) Unexpectedly, SiC2 is anti-correlated with C2. (6) The presence of SiC2 in a carbon star eliminates the possibility of these stars having temperatures greater than or equal to 3000 K, or being produced through the CNO bi-cycle.
Johnson, H. R.↗
Light Absorption by Brown Carbon over the South-East Atlantic Ocean
Biomass burning emissions often contain brown carbon (BrC), which represents a large family of light-absorbing organics that is chemically complex and therefore difficult to estimate their absorption of incoming solar radiation, resulting in large uncertainties in the estimation of the global direct radiative effect of aerosols. Here we investigate the contribution of BrC to the total light absorption of biomass burning aerosols over the South-East Atlantic Ocean with different optical models utilizing a suite of airborne measurements from the ORACLES 2018 campaign by introducing an effective refractive index of black carbon (BC), m eBC = n eBC +ik eBC , that accounts for all possible absorbing components at 660 nm wavelength to facilitate the attribution of absorption at shorter wavelengths. Most values of the imaginary part of the refractive index, k eBC , were larger than those commonly used for BC from biomass burning emissions, suggesting contributions from absorbers beyond BC at 660 nm. The TEM-EDX single particle analysis further suggests that these long-wavelength absorbers might include iron oxides, as iron is found to be present only when large values of k eBC are derived. Using this effective BC refractive index, we find that the contribution of BrC to the total absorption at 470 nm (R BrC,470 ) ranges from ~5–15 %, with the organic aerosol mass absorption coefficient (MAC OA,470 ) at this wavelength ranging from 0.25 ± 0.34 m 2 g -1 to 0.43 ± 0.12 m 2 g -1 . The core-shell model yielded much higher estimates of MAC OA,470 and R BrC,470 than homogeneous mixing models, underscoring the importance of model treatment. Another key finding was that estimates of the BrC contribution at 470 nm from the commonly used AAE (absorption Ångström exponent) attribution method (< 5 %) are much lower than the BrC contribution estimates (R BrC,470 ) using our new methodology that accounts for contributions from both BrC and non-carbonaceous, long-wavelength absorbers, such as magnetite. Thus, it is recommended that application of any optical properties-based attribution method use absorption coefficients at the longest possible wavelength to minimize the influence of BrC at the long wavelength and to account for potential contributions from other absorbing materials.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Analysis of Spark-Ignition Engine Knock as Seen in Photographs Taken at 200,000 Frames Per Second
A motion picture of the development of knock in a spark-ignition engine, is presented, which consists of 20 photographs taken at intervals of 5 microseconds, or at a rate of 200,000 photographs a second, with an equivalent wide-open exposure time of 6.4 microseconds for each photograph. A motion picture of a complete combustion process, including the development of knock, taken at the rate of 40,000 photographs a second is also presented to assist the reader in orienting the photographs of the knock development taken at 200,000 frames per second. The photographs taken at 200,000 frames per second are analyzed and the conclusion is made that the type of knock in the spark-ignition engine involving violent gas vibration originates as self-propagating disturbance starting at a point in the.burn1ig or autoigniting gases and spreading out from that point through the incompletely burned gases at a rate as high as 6800 feet per second, or about twice the speed of sound in the burned gases. Apparent formation of free carbon particles in both the burning and the burned gas is observed within 10 microseconds after passage of the knock disturbance through the gases.
CAMERAS-NACA (MOVING PICTURE)(HIGH SPEED)↗
Carbon disulfide measurements in the atmosphere of the western North Atlantic and the northwestern South Atlantic Oceans
Carbon disulfide (CS2) measurements were made over the western and equatorial North Atlantic Ocean and the northwestern and equatorial South Atlantic Ocean. Carbon disulfide was in the range 0.4-50 pptrv in the atmosphere of the western North Atlantic Ocean. Emissions from anthropogenic sources and wet lands were found to be important although anthropogenic sources were 4-6 times larger than biogenic sources. The flux of CS2 from eastern North America between 30 and 39 deg latitude was estimated to be 2 x 10(exp 8)g/yr or sulfur. The anthropogenic contribution was 1.8 x 10(exp 8)g/yr of sulfur whereas the contribution of marshes was 0.2 x 10(exp 8)g/yr of sulfur. Sources of CS2 at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere were comparatively weak. Carbon disulfide levels in the western South Atlantic Ocean between -5 and 1 deg latitude were in the range 0.2-6 pptrv. Most of the CS2 appeared to come from biomass burning in Africa. Carbon disulfide was much higher close to shore suggesting that the South American continent was a significant source although too few data were available to quantify it. On ferry lights from Wallops, Virginia to Natal, Brazil, CS2 levels at the ferry altitude of about 6 km averaged 1.2 pptrv. This background CS2 was adequate to account for all the carbonyl sulfide (OCS) in the atmosphere.
Bandy, Alan R.↗
Mapping classes of carbon
With rising fossil fuel consumption and ongoing land cover change, humanity is burning through its remaining carbon budget. Here, recent work puts a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on biospheric carbon we can’t afford to lose.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
How emissions uncertainty influences the distribution and radiative impacts of smoke from fires in North America
Fires and the aerosols that they emit impact air quality, health, and climate, but the abundance and properties of carbonaceous aerosol (both black carbon and organic carbon) from biomass burning (BB) remain uncertain and poorly constrained. We aim to explore the uncertainties associated with fire emissions and their air quality and radiative impacts from underlying dry matter consumed and emissions factors. To investigate this, we compare model simulations from a global chemical transport model, GEOS-Chem, driven by a variety of fire emission inventories with surface and airborne observations of black carbon (BC) and organic aerosol (OA) concentrations and satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD). We focus on two fire-detection-based and/or burned-area-based (FD-BA) inventories using burned area and active fire counts, respectively, i.e., the Global Fire Emissions Database version 4 (GFED4s) with small fires and the Fire INventory from NCAR version 1.5 (FINN1.5), and two fire radiative power (FRP)-based approaches, i.e., the Quick Fire Emission Dataset version 2.4 (QFED2.4) and the Global Fire Assimilation System version 1.2 (GFAS1.2). We show that, across the inventories, emissions of BB aerosol (BBA) differ by a factor of 4 to 7 over North America and that dry matter differences, not emissions factors, drive this spread. We find that simulations driven by QFED2.4 generally overestimate BC and, to a lesser extent, OA concentrations observations from two fire-influenced aircraft campaigns in North America (ARCTAS and DC3) and from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network, while simulations driven by FINN1.5 substantially underestimate concentrations. The GFED4s and GFAS1.2-driven simulations provide the best agreement with OA and BC mass concentrations at the surface (IMPROVE), BC observed aloft (DC3 and ARCTAS), and AOD observed by MODIS over North America. We also show that a sensitivity simulation including an enhanced source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from fires, based on the NOAA Fire Lab 2016 experiments, produces substantial additional OA; however, the spread in the primary emissions estimates implies that this magnitude of SOA can be neither confirmed nor ruled out when comparing the simulations against the observations explored here. Given the substantial uncertainty in fire emissions, as represented by these four emission inventories, we find a sizeable range in 2012 annual BBA PM2.5 population-weighted exposure over Canada and the contiguous US (0.5 to 1.6 µg/cu. m). We also show that the range in the estimated global direct radiative effect of carbonaceous aerosol from fires (−0.11 to −0.048 W/sq. m) is large and comparable to the direct radiative forcing of OA (−0.09 W/sq. m) estimated in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our analysis suggests that fire emissions uncertainty challenges our ability to accurately characterize the impact of smoke on air quality and climate.
North America↗
Effects of the 2006 El Nino on Tropospheric Ozone and Carbon Monoxide: Implications for Dynamics and Biomass Burning
We have studied the effects of the 2006 El Nino on tropospheric O3 and CO at tropical and sub-tropical latitudes measured from the OMI and MLS instruments on the Aura satellite. The 2006 El Nino-induced drought allowed forest fires set to clear land to burn out of control during October and November in the Indonesian region. The effects of these fires are clearly seen in the enhancement of GO concentration measured from the MLS instrument. We have used a global model of atmospheric chemistry and transport (GMI CTM) to quantify the relative irrrportance of biomass burning and large scale transport: in producing observed changes in tropospheric O3 and CO . The model results show that during October and November both biomass burning and meteorological changes contributed almost equally to the observed increase in tropospheric O3 in the Indonesian region. The biomass component was 4-6 DU but it was limited to the Indonesian region where the fires were most intense, The dynamical component was 4-8 DU but it covered a much larger area in the Indian Ocean extending from South East Asia in the north to western Australia in the south. By December 2006, the effect of biomass taming was reduced to zero and the obsemed changes in tropospheric O3 were mostly due to dynamical effects. The model results show an increase of 2-3% in the global burden of tropospheric ozone. In comparison, the global burdean of CO increased by 8-12%.
Chandra, S.↗
Processing of Nanosensors Using a Sacrificial Template Approach
A new microsensor fabrication approach has been demonstrated based upon the use of nanostructures as templates. The fundamental idea is that existing nanostructures, such as carbon nano tubes or biological structures, have a material structure that can be used advantageously in order to provide new sensor systems but lack the advantages of some materials to, for example, operate at high temperatures. The approach is to start with a template using nanostructures such as a carbon nanotube. This template can then be coated by an oxide material with higher temperature capabilities. Upon heating in air, the carbon nanotube template is burned off, leaving only the metal oxide nanostructure. The resulting structure has a combination of the crystal structure and surface morphology of the carbon nanotube, combined with the material durability and hightemperature- sensing properties of the metal oxide. Further, since the metal oxide nanocrystals are deposited on the carbon nanotube, after burn-off what is left is a metal oxide porous nanostructure. This makes both the interior and the exterior of this nano structured sensor available for gas species detection. This, in effect, increases the surface area available for sensing, which has been shown in the past to significantly increase sensor performance.
Biaggi-Labiosa, Azlin M.↗
Prospects for silvicultural enhancement of fire resistance in mesic westside forests of the Pacific Northwest
Increasing wildfire activity in mesic, temperate Pacific Northwest forests west of the Cascade Range crest has stimulated interest in understanding whether alternative forest management practices could reduce risk of stand-replacing fire. To explore how management can enhance fire resistance in these forests and assess tradeoffs among resistance enhancement, carbon sequestration and storage, and economic returns, we conducted 40-year simulations of stand development with BioSum, a framework for conducting landscape analysis with the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), utilizing a statistically representative and spatially balanced sample of Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots. Simulation outcomes under business-as-usual silviculture were contrasted with fire-aware silviculture, and treatment optimization logic was developed and applied to represent landscape-scale outcomes under business-as-usual and fire-focused management scenarios. Simulation results indicate that fire-aware prescriptions and fire-focused management can meaningfully enhance stand- and landscape-scale fire resistance of westside forests under less than extreme fire weather, but at the cost of lower economic returns and reduced net carbon storage and sequestration over the 40-year analysis window. Shifting from business-as-usual regeneration harvests with short rotations to fire-aware, episodic selection harvest improved fire resistance the most, especially in young privately-owned forests, and with only modest tradeoffs in carbon and economic outcomes. While fire-aware treatments generally reduced net present value from forest operations over business-as-usual, most treatments still generated positive net present value and could be implemented without subsidy. Fire-aware prescriptions that removed and utilized non-merchantable harvest residues instead of burning them, via either pile or broadcast burning, partially mitigated carbon emissions associated with fire-aware treatments, with about the same improvement in fire resistance. Given the currently limited institutional and financial capacity to implement fire resistance enhancing treatments at scale, the insights from this analysis may aid managers seeking to elevate fire resistance to prioritize where and how to manage.
Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
Intensive aerosol properties of boreal and regional biomass burning aerosol at Mt. Bachelor Observatory: larger and black carbon (BC)-dominant particles transported from Siberian wildfires
We characterize the aerosol physical and optical properties of 13 transported biomass burning (BB) events. BB events included long-range influence from fires in Alaskan and Siberian boreal forests transported to Mt. Bachelor Observatory (MBO) in the free troposphere (FT) over 8–14+ d and regional wildfires in northern California and southwestern Oregon transported to MBO in the boundary layer (BL) over 10 h to 3 d. Intensive aerosol optical properties and normalized enhancement ratios for BB events were derived from measured aerosol light scattering coefficients (σ scat ), aerosol light-absorbing coefficients (σ abs ), fine particulate matter (PM 1 ), and carbon monoxide (CO) measurements made from July to September 2019, with particle size distribution collected from August to September. The observations showed that the Siberian BB events had a lower scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), a higher mass scattering efficiency (MSE; Δσ scat /ΔPM 1 ), and a bimodal aerosol size distribution with a higher geometric mean diameter (D g ). We hypothesize that the larger particles and associated scattering properties were due to the transport of fine dust alongside smoke in addition to contributions from condensation of secondary aerosol, coagulation of smaller particles, and aqueous-phase processing during transport. Alaskan and Siberian boreal forest BB plumes were transported long distances in the FT and characterized by lower absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) values indicative of black carbon (BC) dominance in the radiative budget. Significantly elevated AAE values were only observed for BB events with <1 d transport, which suggests strong production of brown carbon (BrC) in these plumes but limited radiative forcing impacts outside of the immediate region.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗