Understanding Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Crop Residue Burning in China from 2003 to 2017 Using MODIS Data

Abstract

Abstract:Crop residue burning, which is a convenient approach to process excessive crop straws, has a negative impact on local and regional air quality and soil structures. China, as a major agricultural country with a large population, should take more effective measures to control crop residue burning. In this case, a better understanding of long-term spatio-temporal variations of crop residue burning in China is required. The MODIS products MOD14A1/MYD14A1 were employed in this research. Meanwhile, due to the vast territory of China, we divided the study area into seven regions based on the national administrative divisions to examine crop residue burning in each region, respectively. The temporal analysis of crop residue burning in different regions demonstrates a fluctuated, but generally upward, trend from 2003 to 2017. For monthly variations of crop residue burning in different regions, detected fire spots in June mainly concentrated in Central China (CC), East China (EC), and North China (NC). A majority of detected fire spots in Northeast China (NEC) and Northwest China (NWC) appeared in April and October. For other months, a small number of fire spots were distributed in all regions in a scattered manner. Furthermore, from a spatio-temporal perspective, this research revealed that crop residue burning in NEC was the most active among all regions both in spring and autumn. For summer, EC holds a larger proportion of burning spots than other regions. For winter, the number of burning spots in most regions was close. This research conducts a comprehensive analysis of crop residue burning in China at both a national and regional scale. The methodology and results from this research provide useful reference for better monitoring and controlling crop residue burning in China.

The 2005–2016 Trends of Formaldehyde Columns Over China Observed by Satellites: Increasing Anthropogenic Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds and Decreasing Agricultural Fire Emissions

“…The MEIC‐driven model increases relative to 2005 are +1.0 ± 0.3% a −1 in the NCP and +1.0 ± 0.2% a −1 in YRD, consistent with the satellite trends and implying consistency of the satellite and MEIC emission trends. FINN shows a decrease in open fire emissions in the HRB, matching closely the pattern of OMI HCHO decrease in that region, and reflecting recent bans on agricultural fires because of concerns over air quality (Zhang et al, ; Zhuang et al, ). The magnitude of the decreasing trend in FINN open fire emissions is however much smaller than the increase in MEIC anthropogenic emissions (note the different scales in Figure ), explaining why GEOS‐Chem does not capture the localized HCHO decrease in the HRB observed by OMI.…”

Emission of Air Pollutants from Rice Residue Open Burning in Thailand, 2018

“…The fire data from remote sensing information is suitable for analyzing the trends and variability of fire emissions, especially the regional scale [51,52]. In this study, the MCD64A1 burned product during 2010 to 2017 was used to estimate the paddy field areas burned in Thailand.…”

Environmentally Friendly Utilization of Wheat Straw Ash in Cement-Based Composites

“…Later, the images released ( Figure 2) by NASA showed a huge amount of open burning of straw in Indian Punjab in November 2016, which most probably contributed to the poisonous smog in India and many adjacent areas of Pakistan [13]. Such a phenomenon was also observed in China [2,7]. A few of the examples of crop residue that are often burned in open fields are rice husk, wheat straw, etc.…”

“…However, in countries with large-scale agricultural production like China and India, open-field burning of crop residue is a significant portion of biomass emission [6]. Traditionally, crop residues were used for a number of reasons, but with the advancement of agricultural technologies, burning of crop residue (Figure 1) became the most viable option for farmers [7]. Crop residue burning is done in order to prepare the field for the next cycle of cultivation or to control pests and weeds [8].…”