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Global carbon emissions from biomass burning in the 20th century
Author(s) -
Mouillot Florent,
Narasimha Ajay,
Balkanski Yves,
Lamarque JeanFrançois,
Field Christopher B.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl024707
Subject(s) - environmental science , temperate climate , boreal , atmospheric sciences , carbon cycle , taiga , biomass (ecology) , greenhouse gas , biomass burning , tropics , carbon fibers , combustion , climatology , physical geography , meteorology , ecosystem , geography , forestry , ecology , geology , aerosol , chemistry , materials science , composite number , composite material , biology , archaeology , organic chemistry
We used a new, 100‐year, 1 × 1° global fire map and a carbon cycle model (CASA) to provide a yearly gridded estimate of the temporal trend in carbon emissions due to wildfires through the 20th century. 2700–3325 Tg C y −1 burn at the end of the 20th century, compared to 1500–2700 Tg C y −1 at the beginning, with increasing uncertainty moving backward in time. There have been major changes in the regional distribution of emissions from fires, as a consequence of i) increased burning in tropical savannas and ii) a switch of emissions from temperate and boreal forests towards the tropics. The frequently‐used assumption that pre‐industrial emissions were 10% of present biomass burning is clearly inadequate, in terms of both the total amount and the spatial distribution of combustion.