Emissions of gases and particles from biomass burning during the 20th century using satellite data and an historical reconstruction

Miéville, Aude; Granier, Claire; Liousse, Catherine; Guillaume, Bruno; Mouillot, Florent; Lamarque, J. F.; Grégoire, Jean‐Marie; Pétron, Gabrielle

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.01.011

Cited by 163 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, there is disagreement on this topic and other studies infer increasing trends in these sources (8,28). Global-scale model inversion results presented here favor a decrease in fire CH 4 emissions due in part to leverage on the isotopic budget of CH 4 resulting from their enriched δ 13 C signature (SI Appendix, Table S1), i.e., a change in fire emissions will result in a larger shift in δ 13 C than an equivalent change in fugitive fossil fuel emissions.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric methane isotopic record favors fossil sources flat in 1980s and 1990s with recent increase

Rice

Butenhoff

Teama

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

100

114

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Observations of atmospheric methane (CH 4 ) since the late 1970s and measurements of CH 4 trapped in ice and snow reveal a meteoric rise in concentration during much of the twentieth century. Since 1750, levels of atmospheric CH 4 have more than doubled to current globally averaged concentration near 1,800 ppb. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the CH 4 growth rate slowed substantially and was near or at zero between 1999 and 2006. There is no scientific consensus on the drivers of this slowdown. Here, we report measurements of the stable isotopic composition of atmospheric CH 4 ( 13 C/ 12 C and D/H) from a rare air archive dating from 1977 to 1998. Together with more modern records of isotopic atmospheric CH 4 , we performed a time-dependent retrieval of methane fluxes spanning 25 y (1984-2009) using a 3D chemical transport model. This inversion results in a 24 [18,27] Tg y −1 CH 4 increase in fugitive fossil fuel emissions since 1984 with most of this growth occurring after year 2000. This result is consistent with some bottom-up emissions inventories but not with recent estimates based on atmospheric ethane. In fact, when forced with decreasing emissions from fossil fuel sources our inversion estimates unreasonably high emissions in other sources. Further, the inversion estimates a decrease in biomass-burning emissions that could explain falling ethane abundance. A range of sensitivity tests suggests that these results are robust.atmospheric methane | greenhouse gas emissions | methane isotopic composition | methane trends | Bayesian inversion C onsiderable research since the 1970s has established the role of methane (CH 4 ) in climate, as an infrared active gas, and as a chemically reactive species affecting hydroxyl radical, ozone, and carbon monoxide in the troposphere and chlorine, ozone, and water vapor in the stratosphere. At a globally averaged mixing ratio of 1,800 ppb, the abundance of CH 4 in the atmosphere has more than doubled since the industrial revolution as a result of population growth, agricultural practices, and fossil fuel use (1). The rise in CH 4 concentration is considered to contribute 0.48 Wm −2 of the 2.83 Wm −2 radiative forcing by wellmixed greenhouse gases since 1750 (2). Including indirect effects from CH 4 emissions roughly doubles its effective radiative forcing. Its global warming potential (not including feedbacks) is 28 based on a 100-y time horizon, but 84 based on a 20-y timescale [global warming potential (GWP) is relative to CO 2 ], illustrating the potential of large changes in the burden of CH 4 to influence climate on short timescales (2).Both the decrease in the CH 4 growth rate and its interannual variability since 1984 are well documented by at least four global networks of atmospheric measurements; agreement between time series is excellent with some exceptions early on. Recently, a review and synthesis of the CH 4 budget (3) pointed to some consensus of measurement and modeling studies and their comparisons toward understanding temporal changes in the CH 4 budget....

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric methane isotopic record favors fossil sources flat in 1980s and 1990s with recent increase

Rice

Butenhoff

Teama

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

100

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Other inventories have also been developed, through the representation of fires in biogeochemical models. The most recent global data sets providing a spatial distribution of the emissions of ozone precursors from fires are MACCity (monthly, 1960-2008 Knorr et al, 2012), GICC (monthly, 1900GICC (monthly, -2005.5 × 0.5 • resolution; Mieville et al, 2010), Kloster (monthly, 1900Kloster (monthly, -2004.9 × 2.5 • resolution; Kloster et al, 2010) and RETRO (monthly, 1980RETRO (monthly, -20000.5 × 0.5 • resolution; Schultz et al, 2008).…”

Section: Emissions From Firesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Ozone holds a certain fascination in atmospheric science. It is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, central to tropospheric oxidation chemistry, yet harmful to human and ecosystem health as well as being an important greenhouse gas. It is not emitted into the atmosphere but is a byproduct of the very oxidation chemistry it largely initiates. Much effort is focused on the reduction of surface levels of ozone owing to its health and vegetation impacts, but recent efforts to achieve reductions in exposure at a country scale have proved difficult to achieve owing to increases in background ozone at the zonal hemispheric scale. There is also a growing realisation that the role of ozone as a short-lived climate pollutant could be important in integrated air quality climate change mitigation. This review examines current understanding of the processes regulating tropospheric ozone at global to local scales from both measurements and models. It takes the view that knowledge across the scales is important for dealing with air quality and climate change in a synergistic manner. The review shows that there remain a number of clear challenges for ozone such as explaining surface trends, incorporating new chemical understanding, ozone-climate coupling, and a better assessment of impacts. There is a clear and present need to treat ozone across the range of scales, a transboundary issue, but with an emphasis on the hemispheric scales. New observational opportunities are offered both by satellites and small sensors that bridge the scales.

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“…Aerosol emissions from fires consist mainly of organic carbon (OC) (Galanter et al, 2000;Andreae and Merlet, 2001) but also contribute to global black carbon (BC) emissions (Schwarz et al, 2008;Mieville et al, 2010). Together, these particles scatter and absorb radiation, exerting a direct aerosol effect on the radiation budget.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing radiative forcing of fires: global model estimates for past, present and future

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Fires are a global phenomenon that impact climate and biogeochemical cycles, and interact with the biosphere, atmosphere and cryosphere. These impacts occur on a range of temporal and spatial scales and are difficult to quantify globally based solely on observations. Here we assess the role of fires in the climate system using model estimates of radiative forcing (RF) from global fires in preindustrial, present day, and future time periods. Fire emissions of trace gases and aerosols are derived from Community Land Model simulations and then used in a series of Community Atmosphere Model simulations with representative emissions from the years 1850, 2000, and 2100. Additional simulations are carried out with fire emissions from the Global Fire Emission Database for a present-day comparison. These results are compared against the results of simulations with no fire emissions to compute the contribution from fires. We consider the impacts of fire on greenhouse gas concentrations, aerosol effects (including aerosol effects on biogeochemical cycles), and land and snow surface albedo. Overall, we estimate that pre-industrial fires were responsible for a RF of −1 W m −2 with respect to a pre-industrial climate without fires. The largest magnitude pre-industrial forcing from fires was the indirect aerosol effect on clouds (−1.6 W m −2 ). This was balanced in part by an increase in carbon dioxide concentrations due to fires (+0.83 W m −2 ). The RF of fires increases by 0.5 W m −2 from 1850 to 2000 and 0.2 W m −2 from 1850 to 2100 in the model representation from a combination of changes in fire activity and changes in the background environment in which fires occur, especially increases and decreases in the anthropogenic aerosol burden. Thus, fires play an important role in both the natural equilibrium climate and the climate perturbed by anthropogenic activity and need to be considered in future climate projections.

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Emissions of gases and particles from biomass burning during the 20th century using satellite data and an historical reconstruction

Cited by 163 publications

References 31 publications

Atmospheric methane isotopic record favors fossil sources flat in 1980s and 1990s with recent increase

Atmospheric methane isotopic record favors fossil sources flat in 1980s and 1990s with recent increase

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

The changing radiative forcing of fires: global model estimates for past, present and future

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