Daily black carbon emissions from fires in northern Eurasia for 2002–2015

• Published in: Geoscientific Model Development
• Main Authors: Hao, Wei Min, Petkov, Alexander, Nordgren, Bryce L., Corley, Rachel E., Silverstein, Robin P., Urbanski, Shawn P., Evangeliou, Nikolaos, Balkanski, Yves, Kinder, Bradley L.
• Other Authors: Key Laboratory for Crop Genetic Resources and Germplasm Enhancement Beijing (ICS CAAS), Institute of Crop Sciences of CAAS Beijing (ICS CAAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)-Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), USDA Forest Service, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes (CREN), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université de Nantes - UFR Lettres et Langages (UFRLL), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Modelling the Earth Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Interactions and Dynamics (MERMAID), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA))
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Arctic; black carbon; Climate change
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01587533; https://hal.science/hal-01587533/document; https://hal.science/hal-01587533/file/gmd-9-4461-2016.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-4461-2016

International audience Black carbon (BC) emitted from fires in northern Eurasia is transported and deposited on ice and snow in the Arctic and can accelerate its melting during certain times of the year. Thus, we developed a high spatial resolution (500 m × 500 m) dataset to examine daily BC emissions from fires in this region for 2002-2015. Black carbon emissions were estimated based on MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land cover maps and detected burned areas, the Forest Inventory Survey of the Russian Federation , the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map for the year 2000, and vegetation specific BC emission factors. Annual BC emissions from northern Eurasian fires varied greatly, ranging from 0.39 Tg in 2010 to 1.82 Tg in 2015, with an average of 0.71 ± 0.37 Tg from 2002 to 2015. During the 14-year period , BC emissions from forest fires accounted for about two-thirds of the emissions, followed by grassland fires (18 %). Russia dominated the BC emissions from forest fires (92 %) and central and western Asia was the major region for BC emissions from grassland fires (54 %). Overall, Russia contributed 80 % of the total BC emissions from fires in northern Eurasia. Black carbon emissions were the highest in the years 2003, 2008, and 2012. Approximately 58 % of the BC emissions from fires occurred in spring, 31 % in summer, and 10 % in fall. The high emissions in spring also coincide with the most intense period of ice and snow melting in the Arctic.