Biomass burning fuel consumption dynamics in the (sub)tropics assessed from satellite

. Landscape fires occur on a large scale in (sub)tropical savannas and grasslands, affecting ecosystem dynamics, 15 regional air quality and concentrations of atmospheric trace gasses. Fuel consumption per unit of area burned is an important but poorly constrained parameter in fire emission modelling. We combined satellite-derived burned area with fire radiative power (FRP) data to derive fuel consumption estimates for land cover types with low tree cover in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia. We developed a new approach to estimate fuel consumption, based on FRP data from the polar orbiting MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the geostationary Spinning Enhanced Visible 20 and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) in combination with MODIS burned area estimates. The fuel consumption estimates based on the geostationary and polar orbiting instruments showed good agreement in terms of spatial patterns, but absolute fuel consumption estimates remained more uncertain. Fuel consumption varies considerably in space and time, complicating the comparison of various approaches and using field measurements to constrain our results. Spatial patterns in fuel consumption could be partly explained by vegetation productivity and fire return periods. In South America, most fires 25 occurred in savannas with relatively long fire return periods, resulting to provide insights into its most important drivers. We first derived a fuel consumption estimate for Sub-Saharan Africa using SEVIRI FRP data and the MCD64A1 burned area product, using an approach similar to that of Roberts et al. (2011). We derived FRE from the SEVIRI FRP data, which was 25 subsequently converted to an estimate of DM-burned using the conversion factor of Wooster et al. (2005), see Sect. 3.1. To expand our understanding of fuel consumption beyond Africa, we explored if a similar approach could be applied to MODIS FRP data. This approach was similar to the methods of Kaiser et al. (2012) but with a few adjustments to calculate fuel consumption. Rather than using a conversion factor based on laboratory experiments as in Wooster et al. (2005), we related the FRE to in situ field observations to estimate fuel consumption (Sect. 3.2). We present results of this processing for three 30 (sub)tropical biomass burning regions: South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia. In those regions we explored the apply the conversion factor suggested Wooster et

[1]  N. Andela,et al.  New fire diurnal cycle characterizations to improve fire radiative energy assessments made from MODIS observations , 2015 .

[2]  Y. Govaerts,et al.  Meteosat SEVIRI Fire Radiative Power (FRP) products from the Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF) - Part 1: Algorithms, product contents and analysis , 2015 .

[3]  R. Balasubramanian,et al.  Importance of transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions to regional air quality in Southeast Asia during a high fire event , 2015 .

[4]  F. Siegert,et al.  Biomass burning fuel consumption rates: a field measurement database , 2014 .

[5]  Glenn R. Moncrieff,et al.  Contrasting architecture of key African and Australian savanna tree taxa drives intercontinental structural divergence , 2014 .

[6]  G. V. D. Werf,et al.  Recent trends in African fires driven by cropland expansion and El Nino to La Nina transition , 2014 .

[7]  Yi Y. Liu,et al.  Contribution of semi-arid ecosystems to interannual variability of the global carbon cycle , 2014, Nature.

[8]  Martin J. Wooster,et al.  A Decade Long, Multi-Scale Map Comparison of Fire Regime Parameters Derived from Three Publically Available Satellite-Based Fire Products: A Case Study in the Central African Republic , 2014, Remote. Sens..

[9]  Marc Padilla,et al.  Assessing the Temporal Stability of the Accuracy of a Time Series of Burned Area Products , 2014, Remote. Sens..

[10]  Gareth Roberts,et al.  Evaluating the SEVIRI Fire Thermal Anomaly Detection Algorithm across the Central African Republic Using the MODIS Active Fire Product , 2014, Remote. Sens..

[11]  Pierre Hiernaux,et al.  Savanna Vegetation-Fire-Climate Relationships Differ Among Continents , 2014, Science.

[12]  J. Randerson,et al.  Long-term trends and interannual variability of forest, savanna and agricultural fires in South America , 2013 .

[13]  C. Justice,et al.  High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change , 2013, Science.

[14]  R. Bradstock,et al.  Defining pyromes and global syndromes of fire regimes , 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[15]  J. Randerson,et al.  Analysis of daily, monthly, and annual burned area using the fourth‐generation global fire emissions database (GFED4) , 2013 .

[16]  J. Randerson,et al.  Global burned area and biomass burning emissions from small fires , 2012 .

[17]  S. W. Maier,et al.  Direct measurements of the seasonality of emission factors from savanna fires in northern Australia , 2012 .

[18]  S. Levin,et al.  Evolution of human-driven fire regimes in Africa , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[19]  S. Levin,et al.  The Global Extent and Determinants of Savanna and Forest as Alternative Biome States , 2011, Science.

[20]  G. Roberts,et al.  Integration of geostationary FRP and polar-orbiter burned area datasets for an enhanced biomass burning inventory , 2011 .

[21]  M. Razinger,et al.  Biomass burning emissions estimated with a global fire assimilation system based on observed fire radiative power , 2011 .

[22]  W. Bond,et al.  Deciphering the distribution of the savanna biome. , 2011, The New phytologist.

[23]  G. Roberts,et al.  Addressing the spatiotemporal sampling design of MODIS to provide estimates of the fire radiative energy emitted from Africa , 2011 .

[24]  R. Scholes,et al.  Emissions from Fire in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Magnitude of Sources, Their Variability and Uncertainty , 2011 .

[25]  J. Randerson,et al.  Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997-2009) , 2010 .

[26]  D. Roy,et al.  Southern African Fire Regimes as Revealed by Remote Sensing , 2010 .

[27]  D. Roy,et al.  Global assessment of the temporal reporting accuracy and precision of the MODIS burned area product , 2010 .

[28]  João M. N. Silva,et al.  Seasonality of vegetation fires as modified by human action: observing the deviation from eco-climatic fire regimes , 2010 .

[29]  W. Bond,et al.  Thicket expansion in a South African savanna under divergent land use: local vs. global drivers? , 2010 .

[30]  D. Roy,et al.  Strategies for the fusion of satellite fire radiative power with burned area data for fire radiative energy derivation , 2009 .

[31]  Gareth Roberts,et al.  An approach to estimate global biomass burning emissions of organic and black carbon from MODIS fire radiative power , 2009 .

[32]  B. Malamud,et al.  Development of a virtual active fire product for Africa through a synthesis of geostationary and polar orbiting satellite data , 2009 .

[33]  Cathy Clerbaux,et al.  Tracking the emission and transport of pollution from wildfires using the IASI CO retrievals: analysis of the summer 2007 Greek fires , 2009 .

[34]  E. Vermote,et al.  Estimating biomass consumed from fire using MODIS FRE , 2009 .

[35]  Christopher I. Roos,et al.  Fire in the Earth System , 2009, Science.

[36]  Stefan W. Maier,et al.  Improving estimates of savanna burning emissions for greenhouse accounting in northern Australia: limitations, challenges, applications , 2009 .

[37]  David P. Roy,et al.  Southern Africa Validation of the MODIS, L3JRC, and GlobCarbon Burned-Area Products , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[38]  D. Roy,et al.  What limits fire? An examination of drivers of burnt area in Southern Africa , 2009 .

[39]  D. Roy,et al.  An active-fire based burned area mapping algorithm for the MODIS sensor , 2009 .

[40]  B. Duncan,et al.  Vegetation fire emissions and their impact on air pollution and climate , 2009 .

[41]  William J. Bond,et al.  What Limits Trees in C4 Grasslands and Savannas , 2008 .

[42]  D. Roy,et al.  The collection 5 MODIS burned area product — Global evaluation by comparison with the MODIS active fire product , 2008 .

[43]  G. Roberts,et al.  Annual and diurnal african biomass burning temporal dynamics , 2008 .

[44]  J. Randerson,et al.  Climate controls on the variability of fires in the tropics and subtropics , 2008 .

[45]  Gareth Roberts,et al.  Fire Detection and Fire Characterization Over Africa Using Meteosat SEVIRI , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[46]  Niall P. Hanan,et al.  Woody cover in African savannas: the role of resources, fire and herbivory , 2008 .

[47]  Natalie A. Rossiter-Rachor,et al.  Andropogon gayanus (Gamba Grass) Invasion Increases Fire-mediated Nitrogen Losses in the Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia , 2008, Ecosystems.

[48]  Mulualem Tigabu,et al.  Fuel and fire characteristics in savanna–woodland of West Africa in relation to grazing and dominant grass type , 2007 .

[49]  D. Beerling,et al.  The origin of the savanna biome , 2006 .

[50]  Navashni Govender,et al.  The effect of fire season, fire frequency, rainfall and management on fire intensity in savanna vegetation in South Africa , 2006 .

[51]  C. Justice,et al.  Global distribution and seasonality of active fires as observed with the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors , 2006 .

[52]  Y. Kaufman,et al.  Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: FRP derivation and calibration relationships between biomass consumption and fire radiative energy release , 2005 .

[53]  Kelly K. Caylor,et al.  Determinants of woody cover in African savannas , 2005, Nature.

[54]  G. Roberts,et al.  Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Application to southern Africa using geostationary SEVIRI imagery , 2005 .

[55]  J. Randerson,et al.  Global Estimation of Burned Area Using Modis Active Fire Observations , 2022 .

[56]  P. Fearnside,et al.  Above-ground biomass and the fate of carbon after burning in the savannas of Roraima, Brazilian Amazonia , 2005 .

[57]  F. Woodward,et al.  The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. , 2004, The New phytologist.

[58]  J. Singh,et al.  The effect of plant species, weather variables and chemical composition of plant material on decomposition in a tropical grassland , 1981, Plant and Soil.

[59]  Maosheng Zhao,et al.  A Continuous Satellite-Derived Measure of Global Terrestrial Primary Production , 2004 .

[60]  Kelly K. Caylor,et al.  Regional fuel load for two climatically contrasting years in southern Africa , 2003 .

[61]  C. Justice,et al.  SAFARI-2000 characterization of fuels, fire behavior, combustion completeness, and emissions from experimental burns in infertile grass savannas in western Zambia , 2003 .

[62]  Alan H. Strahler,et al.  Global land cover mapping from MODIS: algorithms and early results , 2002 .

[63]  R. Francey,et al.  Interannual growth rate variations of atmospheric CO2 and its δ13C, H2, CH4, and CO between 1992 and 1999 linked to biomass burning , 2002 .

[64]  M. Andreae,et al.  Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning , 2001 .

[65]  C. Sharma,et al.  Biomass and combustion characteristics of secondary mixed deciduous forests in Eastern Ghats of India , 2001 .

[66]  P. Stott.  Combustion in tropical biomass fires: a critical review , 2000 .

[67]  W. Hao,et al.  Seasonality of carbon emissions from biomass burning in a Zambian savanna , 1999 .

[68]  J. Boone Kauffman,et al.  Ecosystem structure in the Brazilian Cerrado: a vegetation gradient of aboveground biomass, root mass and consumption by fire , 1998, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[69]  R. Scholes,et al.  Tree-grass interactions in Savannas , 1997 .

[70]  D. Ward,et al.  Fuel biomass and combustion factors associated with fires in savanna ecosystems of South Africa and Zambia , 1996 .

[71]  C. Justice,et al.  Effect of fuel composition on combustion efficiency and emission factors for African savanna ecosystems , 1996 .

[72]  J. Levine.  Biomass burning in South America, Southeast Asia, and temperate and boreal ecosystems, and the oil fires of Kuwait , 1996 .

[73]  G. Cook,et al.  The fate of nutrients during fires in a tropical savanna , 1994 .

[74]  P. Fraser,et al.  Measurements of trace gases emitted by Australian savanna fires during the 1990 dry season , 1994 .

[75]  Yoram J. Kaufman,et al.  Smoke and fire characteristics for cerrado and deforestation burns in Brazil: BASE-B experiment , 1992 .

[76]  P. Crutzen,et al.  Biomass burning as a source of atmospheric gases , 1979 .