TY - JOUR
T1 - Fire in the air
T2 - Biomass burning impacts in a changing climate
AU - Keywood, Melita
AU - Kanakidou, Maria
AU - Stohl, Andreas
AU - Dentener, Frank
AU - Grassi, Giacomo
AU - Meyer, C. P.
AU - Torseth, Kjetil
AU - Edwards, David
AU - Thompson, Anne M.
AU - Lohmann, Ulrike
AU - Burrows, John
N1 - Funding Information:
Almost 30 years after the pioneering work by Crutzen et al.[3] that recognized the impact of biomass burning on global atmospheric chemistry, an improved understanding of pollutant emissions from fires and their impact on atmospheric composition has been acquired. A number of research coordination activities contribute to the understanding of biomass burning, including the Global Fire Monitoring Center and the European Commission via the Forest Fire Information System, both of which facilitate monitoring and assessment of biomass burning activity. Significant effort has been focused within the context of international field campaigns sponsored by the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Project (IGBP) and the International Commission of Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution. During the 1990s a series of international and interdisciplinary research campaigns on biomass burning in tropical, subtropical, and boreal biomes was conducted under the IGBP-IGAC umbrella. The Biomass Burning Experiment resulted in a deeper understanding of the production of chemically and radiatively important gases and aerosol species from vegetation fires to the global atmosphere and their effect on regional and global chemistry. Because of the diversity of scientific approaches to the biomass burning research, including recent advances in remote sensing products, advances in fire and atmospheric modeling, advances in forecasting systems used for emergency response, and the inclusion of the interaction of fire regimes with vegetation in some climate models, the Biomass Burning Experiment as a large-scale international and almost global collaborative effort has subsequently been replaced by numerous small-scale projects and campaigns.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Fire has a role in ecosystem services; naturally produced wildfires are important for the sustainability of many terrestrial biomes and fire is one of nature's primary carbon-cycling mechanisms. Under a warming climate, it is likely that fire frequency and severity will increase. There is some evidence that fire activity may already be increasing in Western U.S. forests and recent exceptionally intense fire events, such as the Australian Black Saturday fires in 2009 and Russian fires in 2010, highlight the devastation of fires associated with extreme weather. The impacts of emissions from fires on global atmospheric chemistry, and on the atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases and aerosols are recognized although gaps remain in our scientific understanding of the processes involved and the environmental consequences of fires. While significant uncertainty remains in the long-term impacts of forest fires on climate, new sophisticated tools have recently become available (observational and modeling). These tools provide insight into changing wildfires and intentional biomass burning activity in the Anthropocene era that is marked by humans' impact on Earth. The understanding of the impact of wildfires and intentional biomass burning emissions on the present and future climate is reviewed. Presently, fires and their emissions are controlled under fire management and emission reduction schemes. Under future climate conditions, significantly more effective controls on these fires seem necessary. Continued and improved monitoring to support and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the adopted measures, and further deepening of knowledge on the mechanistic and sociological factors that influence fires and their environmental impacts is highly needed. Wildfires and biomass burning are important for a range of international and domestic policies, including air pollution, climate, poverty, security, food supply, and biodiversity. Climate change will make the need to coherently address fires based on scientifically sound measurements and modeling even more pertinent.
AB - Fire has a role in ecosystem services; naturally produced wildfires are important for the sustainability of many terrestrial biomes and fire is one of nature's primary carbon-cycling mechanisms. Under a warming climate, it is likely that fire frequency and severity will increase. There is some evidence that fire activity may already be increasing in Western U.S. forests and recent exceptionally intense fire events, such as the Australian Black Saturday fires in 2009 and Russian fires in 2010, highlight the devastation of fires associated with extreme weather. The impacts of emissions from fires on global atmospheric chemistry, and on the atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases and aerosols are recognized although gaps remain in our scientific understanding of the processes involved and the environmental consequences of fires. While significant uncertainty remains in the long-term impacts of forest fires on climate, new sophisticated tools have recently become available (observational and modeling). These tools provide insight into changing wildfires and intentional biomass burning activity in the Anthropocene era that is marked by humans' impact on Earth. The understanding of the impact of wildfires and intentional biomass burning emissions on the present and future climate is reviewed. Presently, fires and their emissions are controlled under fire management and emission reduction schemes. Under future climate conditions, significantly more effective controls on these fires seem necessary. Continued and improved monitoring to support and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the adopted measures, and further deepening of knowledge on the mechanistic and sociological factors that influence fires and their environmental impacts is highly needed. Wildfires and biomass burning are important for a range of international and domestic policies, including air pollution, climate, poverty, security, food supply, and biodiversity. Climate change will make the need to coherently address fires based on scientifically sound measurements and modeling even more pertinent.
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U2 - 10.1080/10643389.2011.604248
DO - 10.1080/10643389.2011.604248
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84866696600
SN - 1064-3389
VL - 43
SP - 40
EP - 83
JO - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 1
ER -
