Ice-core records of biomass burning

We review the approaches for estimating biomass burning from ice-cores and consider the challenges and assumptions in their application. In particular, we consider the potential of biomarker proxies for biomass burning, hitherto not widely applied to glacial ice archives. We also review the availabl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Anthropocene Review
Main Authors: RUBINO, MAURO, D'ONOFRIO, Antonio, Seki, Osamu, Bendle, James A.
Other Authors: Rubino, Mauro, D'Onofrio, Antonio
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Ammonium
Carboxylic acid
Dehydroabietic acid
Formate
Levoglucosan
Nitrate
Vanillic acid
δ13C-CH4
δ18O-CO
Geology
Global and Planetary Change
Ecology
ice core
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11591/368392
https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019615605117
Description
Summary:We review the approaches for estimating biomass burning from ice-cores and consider the challenges and assumptions in their application. In particular, we consider the potential of biomarker proxies for biomass burning, hitherto not widely applied to glacial ice archives. We also review the available records of biomass burning in ice-cores and consider how variations in fire regimes have been related to atmospheric and land-use changes. Finally, we suggest that future developments in ice-core science should aim to combine multiple biomarkers with other records (black carbon, charcoal) and models to discern the types of material being burnt (C3 versus C4 plants, angiosperms, gymnosperms, peat fires, etc.) and to improve constraints on source areas of biomass burning. An ultimate goal is to compare the biomass burning record from ice-cores with hindcasts from models to project how future climate change will influence biomass burning and, inversely, how fire will affect climate.

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