Biomass Burning Emissions and the Atmosphere

CoferIII, W. R.; Koutzenogii, K.P.; Kokorin, Alexey; Ezcurra, A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-59171-6_9

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Fire has direct and important effects on the global carbon cycle, atmospheric chemistry, and in regulating terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity (Cofer et al 1997;van der Werf et al 2004). Uncertainty over the effects of future climate change upon fire regimes, and the importance of vegetation-climate-atmosphere feedbacks has fostered an increasing effort to develop coupled models of vegetation and fire (Prentice et al 2007) to understand these future changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Power

Marlon²,

Ortiz³

et al. 2007

Clim Dyn

619

453

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Knowledge of historical fire activity tends to be focused at local to landscape scales with few attempts to examine how local patterns of fire activity scale to global patterns. Generally, fire activity varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesised sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In eastern and western North America and western Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity from 21,000 to ~11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greaterthan-present fire activity from ~19,000 to ~17,000 cal yr BP whereas most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ~13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8000 to ~2000 cal yr BP, Indonesia from 11,000 to 4000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6000 to 3000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the postglacial period. These complex patterns can be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Power

Marlon²,

Ortiz³

et al. 2007

Clim Dyn

619

453

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Charcoal production is related to the fire and vegetation characteristics, including the rate of fuel consumption and combustion efficiency (Cofer et al, 1997;Stocks and Kauffman, 1997). Transport is influenced by weather conditions (i.e., wind direction and speed), stream and surficial processes, and the relationship between charcoal particle size and particle settling velocity (Clark, 1988;Patterson et al, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charcoal accumulation following a recent fire in the Cascade Range, northwestern USA, and its relevance for fire-history studies

2001

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Stratigraphic records of macroscopic charcoal particles (Ͼ125 m in diameter) are widely used as a means of reconstructing past fire events, yet fire-history studies rest on assumptions about the processes by which charcoal is transported and deposited in lake sediments. In order to clarify the interpretation of charcoal data, charcoal abundance in sediment cores was examined from 36 lakes within and near the 1996 Charlton Burn, a large stand-replacing fire in the central Cascade Range of Oregon. Stratigraphic variations in charcoal abundance provided strong evidence that macroscopic charcoal recorded a signal of local fire and that prevailing winds affected charcoal transportation, increasing charcoal abundance in lakes downwind of the fire. Charcoal abundance in the uppermost sediments (0-2 cm depth) was related primarily to whether or not a site had burned and secondarily to the surface area of the lake. At the Charlton Burn area, other variables that may influence the transportation of charcoal after a fire, such as relative position of unburned lakes, distance of the lake from the centre of the fire, maximum adjacent slope, and width of riparian vegetation, were not statistically significant. These results support the assumption in charcoal analysis that there is a relationship between the occurrence of local fire and peaks in macroscopic charcoal. Confirming this relationship strengthens the interpretation of long-term fire-history records.

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“…In turn, fire is capable of modifying the climate and terrestrial carbon balance through the emission of greenhouse gases and carbonaceous aerosols (Cofer et al . ; Scholes & Andreae ), and by changing surface albedo. Likewise, fire disturbance can also mediate the surrounding vegetation through the creation of gaps and mosaics, alteration of species turnover rates and by selecting for fire‐adapted taxa (Overpeck et al .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene fire disturbance in the boreal forest of central Sweden

Brown

Giesecke

2013

Boreas

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Holocene fire disturbance and vegetation history were reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal and pollen accumulation rates from two lake sediment records (Holtjärnen and Klotjärnen) collected in the boreal forest of central Sweden. The records were used to examine the potential drivers associated with changes in fire regime. Climate, vegetation and human activity were all identified as factors variously influencing the fire regime. In the early Holocene, near bicentennial fire return intervals were regionally widespread, suggesting that fire disturbance was largely regulated by climate at that time. In the mid-and late Holocene, vegetation exerted an important control on the fire regime. During the mid-Holocene, the expansion of thermophilous broadleaf vegetation offset the influence of warmer climate by altering the local microclimate and by changing the structure and flammability of the available fuels. During the transition to the late Holocene, thermophilous vegetation decreased in abundance and Pinus increased, resulting in a more flammable forest even though the climate was cooling and moistening. Fire disturbance correspondingly increased. The modern boreal forest was established in the late Holocene as Picea expanded regionally as the climate cooled, moistened, and became increasingly continental. Although no change in the frequency of fire was apparent at this time, increased stand densities likely facilitated greater fuel consumption in subsequent fires. Within the last millennium, human action markedly modified the forested landscape, altering the fire regime.Kendrick J. Brown (kendrick.brown@nrcan.gc.ca), Natural Resources Canada,

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Biomass Burning Emissions and the Atmosphere

Cited by 22 publications

References 58 publications

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Charcoal accumulation following a recent fire in the Cascade Range, northwestern USA, and its relevance for fire-history studies

Holocene fire disturbance in the boreal forest of central Sweden

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