Fire CO2 Emissions

Title: Estimates of CO₂ from fires in the United States: implications for carbon management (2007).

Christine Wiedinmyer*¹ and Jason C Neff²

Address: ¹Atmospheric Chemistry Division/The Institute for Integrative and Multidisciplinary Earth Studies, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA and ²Geological Sciences Department and Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

Carbon Balance and Management 2007, 2:10 doi:10.1186/1750-0680-2-10

This article is available from: http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/2/1/10
© 2007 Wiedinmyer and Neff; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Abstract:

Background: Fires emit significant amounts of CO₂ to the atmosphere. These emissions, however, are highly variable in both space and time. Additionally, CO₂ emissions estimates from fires are very uncertain. The combination of high spatial and temporal variability and substantial
uncertainty associated with fire CO2 emissions can be problematic to efforts to develop remote sensing, monitoring, and inverse modeling techniques to quantify carbon fluxes at the continental scale. Policy and carbon management decisions based on atmospheric sampling/modeling
techniques must account for the impact of fire CO₂ emissions; a task that may prove very difficult for the foreseeable future. This paper addresses the variability of CO₂ emissions from fires across the US, how these emissions compare to anthropogenic emissions of CO₂ and Net Primary
Productivity, and the potential implications for monitoring programs and policy development.

Results: Average annual CO₂ emissions from fires in the lower 48 (LOWER48) states from 2002–2006 are estimated to be 213 (± 50 std. dev.) Tg CO₂ yr^-1 and 80 (± 89 std. dev.) Tg CO₂ yr^-1 in Alaska. These estimates have significant interannual and spatial variability. Needleleaf forests in the Southeastern US and the Western US are the dominant source regions for US fire CO₂ emissions. Very high emission years typically coincide with droughts, and climatic variability is a major driver of the high interannual and spatial variation in fire emissions. The amount of CO₂ emitted from fires in the US is equivalent to 4–6% of anthropogenic emissions at the continental scale and, at the statelevel, fire emissions of CO₂ can, in some cases, exceed annual emissions of CO₂ from fossil fuel
usage.

Conclusion: The CO₂ released from fires, overall, is a small fraction of the estimated average annual Net Primary Productivity and, unlike fossil fuel CO₂ emissions, the pulsed emissions of CO₂ during fires are partially counterbalanced by uptake of CO₂ by regrowing vegetation in the decades
following fire. Changes in fire severity and frequency can, however, lead to net changes in atmospheric CO₂ and the short-term impacts of fire emissions on monitoring, modeling, and carbon management policy are substantial.

You can get the fulltext of this fire CO2 emissions related research paper topic for free!

Download this global warming fire CO2 emissions research paper. (Right-click the link to download and print a PDF file.)

Return from Fire CO2 emissions research paper to other Global warming reserach papers

Return to Research Paper Home

Research Topics | Controversial Paper Topics | Global Warming Papers | Papers on AIDS | Stem Cell Papers | Psychology Papers | Call For Papers | Submit Abstract | Search Results | Contact Us | About Me

Back to top