Estimating the area of stubble burning from the number of active fires detected by satellite

Smith, Richard; Adams, Merrin S.; Maier, Stefan W.; Craig, R.L.; Kristina, Agnes; Maling, Ian

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2006.12.011

Cited by 37 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…4) If DF fires tended to be initiated earlier in the day this would favor their detection by MODIS and enhance the forest to crop fire ratio relative to the airborne observations due to the different sampling periods (13:00-16:00 LT for airborne sampling vs. 10:00-13:30 LT for MODIS overpasses). Giglio et al (2007) observed that Brazilian fire activity associated with deforestation occurred earlier in the day compared with cropland burning, while Smith et al (2007) attributed the low MODIS detection rate (13%) for crop residue fires in Australia to the tendency of farmers to burn later in the day after MODIS overpasses. In reality a 1:1 burned area ratio for DF/CR may be an upper limit as it represents approximately doubling the area under agriculture annually.…”

Section: Fire Characteristics and Estimates Of Regional Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. In March 2006 two instrumented aircraft made the first detailed field measurements of biomass burning (BB) emissions in the Northern Hemisphere tropics as part of the MILAGRO project. The aircraft were the National Center for Atmospheric Research C-130 and a University of Montana/US Forest Service Twin Otter. The initial emissions of up to 49 trace gas or particle species were measured from 20 deforestation and crop residue fires on the Yucatan peninsula. This included two trace gases useful as indicators of BB (HCN and acetonitrile) and several rarely, or never before, measured species: OH, peroxyacetic acid, propanoic acid, hydrogen peroxide, methane sulfonic acid, and sulfuric acid. Crop residue fires emitted more organic acids and ammonia than deforestation fires, but the emissions from the main fire types were otherwise fairly similar. The Yucatan firesCorrespondence to: R. J. Yokelson (bob.yokelson@umontana.edu) emitted unusually high amounts of SO 2 and particle chloride, likely due to a strong marine influence on this peninsula. As smoke from one fire aged, the ratio O 3 / CO increased to ∼15% in <∼1 h similar to the fast net production of O 3 in BB plumes observed earlier in Africa. The rapid change in O 3 occurs at a finer spatial scale than is employed in global models and is also faster than predicted by microscale models. Fast increases in PAN, H 2 O 2 , and two organic acids were also observed. The amount of secondary organic acid is larger than the amount of known precursors. Rapid secondary formation of organic and inorganic aerosol was observed with the ratio PM 2.5 / CO more than doubling in ∼1.4±0.7 h. The OH measurements revealed high initial levels (>1×10 7 molecules/cm 3 ) that were likely caused in part by high initial HONO (∼10% of NO y ). Thus, more research is needed to understand critical post emission processes for the second-largest trace gas source on Earth. It is estimated that ∼44 Tg of biomass burned in the Yucatan in the spring Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

show abstract

Section: Fire Characteristics and Estimates Of Regional Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tansey et al (2008a) showed that 60% of burn scars in a degraded peat swamp forest, comprising patches of intact forest in a matrix of secondary vegetation heavily impacted by fire and excessive drainage went undetected by the MODIS thermal anomaly (hotspot) product. In a similar study, Smith et al (2007) arrived at a hotspot probability detection rate of only 13% for agricultural fields in Southwestern Australia. The successful detection of an active fire depends on a favourable combination of cloud and smoke free conditions, fire intensity and flame front size prevailing at the exact time that the satellite passes overhead.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…GLOBSCAR (Simon et al, 2004), GBA2000 (Tansey et al, 2004), and the product of Barbosa et al (1999). However, because of the lack of temporal continuity of these products, burned area estimates required for national greenhouse gas inventories are often based on active fires (dubbed "hotspots") detected using satellite-bound thermal sensors Smith et al, 2007) which are available in near real time. Using active fire detections as a proxy for area burnt in the computation of greenhouse gas emissions has several drawbacks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating carbon emissions from African wildfires

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We developed a technique for studying seasonal and interannual variation in pyrogenic carbon emissions from Africa using a modelling approach that scales burned area estimates from L3JRC, a map recently generated from remote sensing of burn scars instead of active fires. Carbon fluxes were calculated by the novel fire model SPITFIRE embedded within the dynamic vegetation model framework LPJ-GUESS, using daily climate input.For the time period from 2001 to 2005 an average area of 195.5±24×10 4 km 2 was burned annually, releasing an average of 723±70 Tg C to the atmosphere; these estimates for the biomass burned are within the range of previously published estimates. Despite the fact that the majority of wildfires are ignited by humans, strong relationships between climatic conditions (particularly precipitation), net primary productivity and overall biomass burnt emerged. Our investigation of the relationships between burnt area and carbon emissions and their potential drivers available litter and precipitation revealed uni-modal responses to annual precipitation, with a maximum around 1000 mm for burned area and emissions, or 1200 mm for litter availability. Similar response patterns identified in savannahs worldwide point to precipitation as a chief determinant for short-term variation in fire regime. A considerable variability that cannot be explained by fire-precipitation relationships alone indicates the existence of additional factors that must be taken into account.

show abstract

“…The survey method is limited as few states collect agricultural burning information and burning practices vary widely from state to state. Remote sensing methods have difficulty with detecting agricultural fires as they are often short lived and relatively small [ Smith et al ., ; Hawbaker et al ., ; Chang and Song , ; van der Werf et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural fires in the southeastern U.S. during SEAC⁴RS: Emissions of trace gases and particles and evolution of ozone, reactive nitrogen, and organic aerosol

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emissions from 15 agricultural fires in the southeastern U.S. were measured from the NASA DC‐8 research aircraft during the summer 2013 Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. This study reports a detailed set of emission factors (EFs) for 25 trace gases and 6 fine particle species. The chemical evolution of the primary emissions in seven plumes was examined in detail for ~1.2 h. A Lagrangian plume cross‐section model was used to simulate the evolution of ozone (O3), reactive nitrogen species, and organic aerosol (OA). Observed EFs are generally consistent with previous measurements of crop residue burning, but the fires studied here emitted high amounts of SO2 and fine particles, especially primary OA and chloride. Filter‐based measurements of aerosol light absorption implied that brown carbon (BrC) was ubiquitous in the plumes. In aged plumes, rapid production of O3, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), and nitrate was observed with ΔO3/ΔCO, ΔPAN/ΔNOy, and Δnitrate/ΔNOy reaching ~0.1, ~0.3, and ~0.3. For five selected cases, the model reasonably simulated O3 formation but underestimated PAN formation. No significant evolution of OA mass or BrC absorption was observed. However, a consistent increase in oxygen‐to‐carbon (O/C) ratios of OA indicated that OA oxidation in the agricultural fire plumes was much faster than in urban and forest fire plumes. Finally, total annual SO2, NOx, and CO emissions from agricultural fires in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri were estimated (within a factor of ~2) to be equivalent to ~2% SO2 from coal combustion and ~1% NOx and ~9% CO from mobile sources.

show abstract

Estimating the area of stubble burning from the number of active fires detected by satellite

Cited by 37 publications

References 16 publications

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

Estimating carbon emissions from African wildfires

Agricultural fires in the southeastern U.S. during SEAC⁴RS: Emissions of trace gases and particles and evolution of ozone, reactive nitrogen, and organic aerosol

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Estimating the area of stubble burning from the number of active fires detected by satellite

Cited by 37 publications

References 16 publications

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

Emissions from biomass burning in the Yucatan

Estimating carbon emissions from African wildfires

Agricultural fires in the southeastern U.S. during SEAC4RS: Emissions of trace gases and particles and evolution of ozone, reactive nitrogen, and organic aerosol

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Agricultural fires in the southeastern U.S. during SEAC⁴RS: Emissions of trace gases and particles and evolution of ozone, reactive nitrogen, and organic aerosol