Historical trends of forest fires and carbon emissions in China from 1988 to 2012

Abstract

A larger amount of carbon is stored in forest ecosystems than in the entire atmosphere. Thus, relatively small changes in forest carbon stocks can significantly impact net carbon exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere. Changes in forest stocks can result from various disturbances, such as insect pests, windstorms, flooding, and especially forest fires. Globally, the impact of forest fires has been enhanced due to ongoing warming of the climate. The current study reported an evaluation of carbon emissions from historical forest fires in China during 1988–2012 with observational data collected from national agriculture statistics. Historical fire trends and fire‐induced carbon emissions were described over space and time at both national and regional levels. The results indicated that no significant increases in fire occurrence and carbon emissions were observed during the study period at the national level. However, at the regional level, there was a significant increasing trend in fire occurrence, and drought severity was a major driver of fire activity. Most carbon emissions were from north and northeast China, and these emissions contributed significantly to total carbon emissions. The results also showed that annual fire‐induced emissions ranged from 0.04 Tg C to 7.22 Tg C, with an average of 1.03 Tg C. Large interannual and spatial variabilities of carbon emissions were also indicated, and these were attributed to spatial and temporal variations in fire regimes. The results improve understanding of fire characteristics and provide significant information for reducing model‐related uncertainty of fire‐induced carbon emissions.

Extensive fires in southeastern Siberian permafrost linked to preceding Arctic Oscillation

“…On the other hand, historical fire statistics in Russia and China show a positive fire activity trend in southeastern Siberia over the past few decades, and anthropogenic activity might contribute to this trend ( fig. S3) (30). In addition, this region has experienced long-term spring warming (31) and earlier snowmelt (32,33) due to Arctic warming.…”

Estimation of Forest Fire Emissions in Southwest China from 2013 to 2017

“…Therefore, the accurate estimation and detailed analysis of forest fire emissions still need to be improved.Streets et al [8] found that forest fire emissions were the primary source of biomass emissions in Asia, and that China had the highest biomass burning emissions in Asia. Some research has addressed forest fire emissions in China, but most of these studies have only estimated and analyzed the carbon emissions from forest fires [22,23]. Moreover, there is a lack of current and detailed regional forest fire emissions inventories.…”

Atmospheric Circulation Patterns Associated With Wildfires in the Monsoon Regions of China

“…Wildfires occur much more frequently in the south than in the north, while burned area has an opposite spatial pattern (Chang et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2017;Li et al, 2015;Lv et al, 2006;Tian et al, 2013). Many regions have two fire seasons in spring and fall and large interannual variability (Niu & Zhai, 2012;Yi et al, 2017) due to local, regional, and global atmospheric processes (Yao et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2016). Efforts have been made to use atmospheric factors to predict seasonal fire activity in China (Chang et al, 2013;Li et al, 2014;Sun & Zhang, 2018).…”