Inter‐ and intra‐continental transport of radioactive cesium released by boreal forest fires

Wotawa, Gerhard; Geer, L.-E. De; Becker, Andreas; D’Amours, R.; Jean, M.; Servranckx, R.; Ungar, Kurt

doi:10.1029/2006gl026206

Cited by 52 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…3) when fields were quickly prepared for the already delayed sowing. This is demonstrated also by the infrared spectroscopy measurements of total column CO made at Zvenigorod (36 • E, 55 • N; see Yurganov et al, 1995), which is located about 50 km west of Moscow and within the general burning region (symbols in Fig. 3).…”

Section: Biomass Burning Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Furthermore, detections can only be made at the time of the satellite overpasses and the number of detections also depends on the minimum confidence level requested. In the absence of better information, we assumed that every detection represents a burned area of 180 ha, based on a statistical analysis of MODIS fire detections with independent area burned data by Wotawa et al (2006). This shall account both for the area burned by the detected fire itself and undetected fires in its vicinity on the same day.…”

Section: Biomass Burning Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Arctic smoke – record high air pollution levels in the European Arctic due to agricultural fires in Eastern Europe in spring 2006

et al. 2007

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Abstract. In spring 2006, the European Arctic was abnormally warm, setting new historical temperature records. During this warm period, smoke from agricultural fires in Eastern Europe intruded into the European Arctic and caused the most severe air pollution episodes ever recorded there. This paper confirms that biomass burning (BB) was indeed the source of the observed air pollution, studies the transport of the smoke into the Arctic, and presents an overview of the observations taken during the episode. Fire detections from the MODIS instruments aboard the Aqua and Terra satellites were used to estimate the BB emissions. The FLEX-PART particle dispersion model was used to show that the smoke was transported to Spitsbergen and Iceland, which was confirmed by MODIS retrievals of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and AIRS retrievals of carbon monoxide (CO) total columns. Concentrations of halocarbons, carbon dioxide and CO, as well as levoglucosan and potassium, measured at Zeppelin mountain near NyÅlesund, were used to further corroborate the BB source of the smoke at Spitsbergen. The ozone (O 3 ) and CO concentrations were the highest ever observed at the Zeppelin station, and gaseous elemental mercury was also elevated. A new O 3 record was also set at a station on Iceland. The smoke was strongly absorbingblack carbon concentrations were the highest ever recorded Correspondence to: A. Stohl (ast@nilu.no) at Zeppelin -and strongly perturbed the radiation transmission in the atmosphere: aerosol optical depths were the highest ever measured at NyÅlesund. We furthermore discuss the aerosol chemical composition, obtained from filter samples, as well as the aerosol size distribution during the smoke event. Photographs show that the snow at a glacier on Spitsbergen became discolored during the episode and, thus, the snow albedo was reduced. Samples of this polluted snow contained strongly elevated levels of potassium, sulphate, nitrate and ammonium ions, thus relating the discoloration to the deposition of the smoke aerosols. This paper shows that, to date, BB has been underestimated as a source of aerosol and air pollution for the Arctic, relative to emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Given its significant impact on air quality over large spatial scales and on radiative processes, the practice of agricultural waste burning should be banned in the future.

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Section: Biomass Burning Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Biomass Burning Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic smoke – record high air pollution levels in the European Arctic due to agricultural fires in Eastern Europe in spring 2006

et al. 2007

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“…Stohl et al [2006] in their assertion that record high air pollution was caused by agricultural fires in Eastern Europe assumed that every MODIS active fire detected resulted in a burnt area of 180 hectares. Their assumption was derived from a statistical analysis of boreal forest fires presented by Wotawa et al [2006]. Our observations indicate that the characteristics of burning activity (size of fire, intensity of fire, number of fires) in agricultural and forest areas differ greatly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

A new, global, multi‐annual (2000–2007) burnt area product at 1 km resolution

Tansey¹,

Grégoire²,

Defourny³

et al. 2008

Geophysical Research Letters

249

269

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This paper reports on the development and validation of a new, global, burnt area product. Burnt areas are reported at a resolution of 1 km for seven fire years (2000 to 2007). A modified version of a Global Burnt Area (GBA) 2000 algorithm is used to compute global burnt area. The total area burnt each year (2000–2007) is estimated to be between 3.5 million km2 and 4.5 million km2. The total amount of vegetation burnt by cover type according to the Global Land Cover (GLC) 2000 product is reported. Validation was undertaken using 72 Landsat TM scenes was undertaken. Correlation statistics between estimated burnt areas are reported for major vegetation types. The accuracy of this new global data set depends on vegetation type.

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“…It has been recognised that distinct chemical elements can be stored in the soils or biomass for a long time and, during a fire, can be re-injected into the atmosphere and subsequently transported over great distances. This has been documented, for instance, for mercury (Sigler et al, 2003), and for radioactive cesium-137, which was produced by nuclear bomb testing in the last century and is still stored in forests (Wotawa et al, 2006). However, we are not aware of a study that has documented an episode with enhanced atmospheric PCB concentrations as a result of BB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions

et al. 2007

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Abstract. Soils and forests in the boreal region of the Northern Hemisphere are recognised as having a large capacity for storing air-borne Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Following reductions of primary emissions of various legacy POPs, there is an increasing interest and debate about the relative importance of secondary re-emissions on the atmospheric levels of POPs. In spring of 2006, biomass burning emissions from agricultural fires in Eastern Europe were transported to the Zeppelin station on Svalbard, where record-high levels of many air pollutants were recorded (Stohl et al., 2007). Here we report on the extremely high concentrations of PCBs that were also measured during this period. 21 out of 32 PCB congeners were enhanced by more than two standard deviations above the long-term mean concentrations. In July 2004, about 5.8 million hectare of boreal forest burned in North America, emitting a pollution plume which reached the Zeppelin station after a travel time of 3-4 weeks (Stohl et al., 2006). Again, 12 PCB congeners were elevated above the long-term mean by more than two standard deviations, with the less chlorinated congeners being most strongly affected. We propose that these abnormally high concentrations were caused by biomass burning emissions. Based on enhancement ratios with carbon monoxide and known emissions factors for this species, we estimate that 130 and 66 µg PCBs were released per kilogram dry matter burned, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study relating atmospheric PCB enhancements with biomass burning. The strong effects on observed concentrations far away from the sources, suggest that biomass burning is an important source of PCBs for the atmosphere.

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Inter‐ and intra‐continental transport of radioactive cesium released by boreal forest fires

Cited by 52 publications

References 16 publications

Arctic smoke – record high air pollution levels in the European Arctic due to agricultural fires in Eastern Europe in spring 2006

Arctic smoke – record high air pollution levels in the European Arctic due to agricultural fires in Eastern Europe in spring 2006

A new, global, multi‐annual (2000–2007) burnt area product at 1 km resolution

Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions

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