Pyrogenic carbon emission from a large wildfire in Oregon, United States

[1] We used a ground-based approach to compute the pyrogenic carbon emissions from the Biscuit Fire, an exceptionally large wildfire, which in 2002 burned over 200,000 ha of mixed conifer forest in southwestern Oregon. A combination of federal inventory data and supplementary ground measurements afforded the estimation of preburn densities for 25 separate carbon pools at 180 independent locations in the burn area. Average combustion factors for each of these pools were then compiled from the postburn assessment of thousands of individual trees, shrubs, and parcels of surface and ground fuel. Combustion factors were highest for litter, duff, and foliage, lowest for live woody pools. Combustion factors also increased with burn severity as independently assessed from remote imagery, endorsing the use of such imagery in scaling emissions to fire area. We estimate the total pyrogenic carbon emissions from the Biscuit Fire to be between 3.5 and 4.4 Tg C (17 and 22 Mg C ha−1) depending on uncertainty in our ability to estimate preburn litter pools and mineral soil combustion with a central estimate of 3.8 Tg C (19 Mg C ha−1). We estimate that this flux is approximately 16 times the annual net ecosystem production of this landscape prior to the wildfire and may have reduced mean net biome production across the state of Oregon by nearly half in the year 2002.

[1]  Susan J. Prichard,et al.  An overview of the fuel characteristic classification system—quantifying, classifying, and creating fuelbeds for resource planning. , 2007 .

[2]  Warren B. Cohen,et al.  Scaling net ecosystem production and net biome production over a heterogeneous region in the Western United States , 2007 .

[3]  S. A. Lewis,et al.  Remote sensing techniques to assess active fire characteristics and post-fire effects , 2006 .

[4]  T. Swetnam,et al.  Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity , 2006, Science.

[5]  Xiaoyang Zhang,et al.  Estimating emissions from fires in North America for air quality modeling , 2006 .

[6]  Hanqin Tian,et al.  Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions from forest fires in China from 1950 to 2000 , 2006 .

[7]  Vivek K. Arora,et al.  Fire as an interactive component of dynamic vegetation models , 2005 .

[8]  A. I. Gitelman,et al.  Variability in net primary production and carbon storage in biomass across Oregon forests—an assessment integrating data from forest inventories, intensive sites, and remote sensing , 2005 .

[9]  B. E. L Aw,et al.  Disturbance and climate effects on carbon stocks and fluxes across Western Oregon USA , 2004 .

[10]  J. W. Wagtendonk,et al.  Comparison of AVIRIS and Landsat ETM+ detection capabilities for burn severity , 2004 .

[11]  W. R. Cofer,et al.  Estimating fire emissions and disparities in boreal Siberia (1998–2002) , 2004 .

[12]  P. Goovaerts,et al.  Uncertainty in estimating carbon emissions from boreal forest fires , 2004 .

[13]  W. Romme,et al.  The Interaction of Fire, Fuels, and Climate across Rocky Mountain Forests , 2004 .

[14]  Teresa L. Campos,et al.  REMOTE MEASUREMENT OF ENERGY AND CARBON FLUX FROM WILDFIRES IN BRAZIL , 2004 .

[15]  J. Randerson,et al.  Continental-Scale Partitioning of Fire Emissions During the 1997 to 2001 El Niño/La Niña Period , 2003, Science.

[16]  Carl H. Key,et al.  Landscape Assessment ( LA ) Sampling and Analysis Methods , 2004 .

[17]  T. J. Blasing,et al.  Estimates of Annual Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emitted for Each State in the U.S.A. and the District of Columbia for Each Year from 1960 through 2001 , 2004 .

[18]  J. Donnegan,et al.  Southwest Oregon Biscuit Fire: an analysis of forest resources and fire severity , 2004 .

[19]  S. Page,et al.  The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997 , 2002, Nature.

[20]  David Schimel,et al.  Carbon cycle: The wildfire factor , 2002, Nature.

[21]  Claudia I. Czimczik,et al.  Effects of charring on mass, organic carbon, and stable carbon isotope composition of wood , 2002 .

[22]  Jay D. Miller,et al.  Mapping forest post-fire canopy consumption in several overstory types using multi-temporal Landsat TM and ETM data , 2002 .

[23]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane from boreal forest fires in 1998 , 2002 .

[24]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Variability in the emission of carbon-based trace gases from wildfire in the Alaskan boreal forest , 2002 .

[25]  Roger D. Ottmar,et al.  Characterizing fuels in the 21st Century , 2001 .

[26]  B. Law,et al.  Carbon storage and fluxes in ponderosa pine forests at different developmental stages , 2001 .

[27]  P. Curtis,et al.  Effects of Forest Management on Soil C and N Storage: Meta Analysis , 2001 .

[28]  R. Houghton,et al.  Changes in terrestrial carbon storage in the United States. 2: The role of fire and fire management , 2000 .

[29]  R. D. Johnson,et al.  Using Landsat TM data to estimate carbon release from burned biomass in an Alaskan spruce forest complex , 2000 .

[30]  Jose M. Cardoso Pereira,et al.  An assessment of vegetation fire in Africa (1981–1991): Burned areas, burned biomass, and atmospheric emissions , 1999 .

[31]  Robert E. Keane,et al.  First Order Fire Effects Model: FOFEM 4.0, user's guide , 1997 .

[32]  Paul B. Alaback,et al.  Software for computing plant biomassBIOPAK users guide. , 1994 .

[33]  J. Agee Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests , 1993 .

[34]  Patricia L. Andrews,et al.  Introduction To Wildland Fire , 1984 .

[35]  James K. Agee,et al.  Biomass Consumption and Smoke Production by Prehistoric and Modern Forest Fires in Western Washington , 1983, Journal of Forestry.

[36]  P. Crutzen,et al.  Estimates of gross and net fluxes of carbon between the biosphere and the atmosphere from biomass burning , 1980 .

[37]  C. E. Van Wagner,et al.  Conditions for the start and spread of crown fire , 1977 .

[38]  R. Whittaker Vegetation of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon and California , 1960 .