Continental-Scale Partitioning of Fire Emissions During the 1997 to 2001 El Nino/La Nina Period
California Institute of Technology · Planetary Science Institute · +4 more institutions
Abstract
During the 1997 to 1998 El Niño, drought conditions triggered widespread increases in fire activity, releasing CH4 and CO2 to the atmosphere. We evaluated the contribution of fires from different continents to variability in these greenhouse gases from 1997 to 2001, using satellite-based estimates of fire activity, biogeochemical modeling, and an inverse analysis of atmospheric CO anomalies. During the 1997 to 1998 El Niño, the fire emissions anomaly was 2.1 +/- 0.8 petagrams of carbon, or 66 +/- 24% of the CO2 growth rate anomaly. The main contributors were Southeast Asia (60%), Central and South America (30%), and boreal regions of Eurasia and North America (10%).
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 41.37
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 27
Authors
8- GRGuido R. van der WerfCorresponding
California Institute of Technology, Planetary Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, Duke University, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Systems and Applications (United States)
- JTJames T. Randerson
California Institute of Technology, Planetary Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, Duke University, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Systems and Applications (United States)
- GJG. J. Collatz
California Institute of Technology, Planetary Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, Duke University, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Systems and Applications (United States)
- LGLouis Giglio
California Institute of Technology, Planetary Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, Duke University, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Systems and Applications (United States)
- PSP. S. Kasibhatla
California Institute of Technology, Planetary Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, Duke University, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Systems and Applications (United States)
Topics & keywords
- Boreal
- Environmental science
- Biogeochemical cycle
- Anomaly (physics)
- Atmosphere (unit)
- Climatology
- Greenhouse gas
- Period (music)