Fuel availability not fire weather controls boreal wildfire severity and carbon emissions

Carbon (C) emissions from wildfires are a key terrestrial–atmosphere interaction that influences global atmospheric composi-tion and climate. Positive feedbacks between climate warming and boreal wildfires are predicted based on top-down controls of fire weather and climate, but C emissions from bor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature climate change Vol. 10; no. 12; pp. 1130 - 1136
Main Authors Walker, X J, Rogers, B M, Veraverbeke, S, Johnstone, J F, Baltzer, J L, Barrett, K, Bourgeau-Chavez, L, Day, N J, Groot, W J de, Dieleman, C M, Goetz, S, Hoy, E, Jenkins, L K, Kane, E S, Parisien, M -A, Potter, S, Schuur, E A G, Turetsky, M, Whitman, E, Mack, M C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Goddard Space Flight Center Springer Nature 01.12.2020
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
Atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric composition
Availability
Boreal forests
Carbon
Carbon emissions
Climate change
Community composition
Emissions
Fire weather
Fires
Forest fires
Forests
Fuels
Global warming
Meteorology And Climatology
Predictive control
Species composition
Taiga
Terrestrial environments
Weather
Wildfires
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Summary:Carbon (C) emissions from wildfires are a key terrestrial–atmosphere interaction that influences global atmospheric composi-tion and climate. Positive feedbacks between climate warming and boreal wildfires are predicted based on top-down controls of fire weather and climate, but C emissions from boreal fires may also depend on bottom-up controls of fuel availability related to edaphic controls and overstory tree composition. Here we synthesized data from 417 field sites spanning six ecoregions in the northwestern North American boreal forest and assessed the network of interactions among potential bottom-up and top-down drivers of C emissions. Our results indicate that C emissions are more strongly driven by fuel availability than by fire weather, highlighting the importance of fine-scale drainage conditions, overstory tree species composition and fuel accumulation rates for predicting total C emissions. By implication, climate change-induced modification of fuels needs to be considered for accu-rately predicting future C emissions from boreal wildfires.
Bibliography:GSFC
Goddard Space Flight Center
ISSN:1758-678X
1758-6798
DOI:10.1038/s41558-020-00920-8