Disentangling the contribution of multiple land covers to fire‐mediated carbon emissions in Amazonia during the 2010 drought. Issue 10 (22nd October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anderson, Liana Oighenstein; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Gloor, Manuel; Arai, Egídio; Adami, Marcos; Saatchi, Sassan S.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.; Barlow, Jos; Berenguer, Erika; Duarte, Valdete
• Is Part Of: Global biogeochemical cycles. Volume 29:Issue 10(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1739
• Page End: 1753
• Publication Date: 2015-10-22
• Subjects: Amazonia -- fire -- drought -- carbon emission -- biomass; Biogeochemical cycles -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 577.1405
• DOI: 10.1002/2014GB005008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0886-6236

Abstract

Abstract: In less than 15 years, the Amazon region experienced three major droughts. Links between droughts and fires have been demonstrated for the 1997/1998, 2005, and 2010 droughts. In 2010, emissions of 510 ± 120 Tg C were associated to fire alone in Amazonia. Existing approaches have, however, not yet disentangled the proportional contribution of multiple land cover sources to this total. We develop a novel integration of multisensor and multitemporal satellite‐derived data on land cover, active fires, and burned area and an empirical model of fire‐induced biomass loss to quantify the extent of burned areas and resulting biomass loss for multiple land covers in Mato Grosso (MT) state, southern Amazonia—the 2010 drought most impacted region. We show that 10.77% (96, 855 km 2 ) of MT burned. We estimated a gross carbon emission of 56.21 ± 22.5 Tg C from direct combustion of biomass, with an additional 29.4 ± 10 Tg C committed to be emitted in the following years due to dead wood decay. It is estimated that old‐growth forest fires in the whole Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have contributed to 14.81 Tg of C (11.75 Tg C to 17.87 Tg C) emissions to the atmosphere during the 2010 fire season, with an affected area of 27, 555 km 2 . Total C loss from the 2010 fires in MT state and old‐growth forest fires in the BLA represent, respectively, 77% (47% to 107%) and 86% (68.2% to 103%) of Brazil's National Plan on Climate Change annual target for Amazonia C emission reductions from deforestation. Key Points: The 10.77% (96, 855 km2) of MT burned during the 2010 dry season Mato Grosso gross c emission in 2010 was 56.21 ± 22.5 Tg C Old‐growth forest fire emission in 2010 in the Brazilian Amazon was 14.81 Tg C