FIRE-C

The role of boreal wildfires in the global carbon budget: A process-based analysis using satellite-derived fire burn severity data

Duration:08/05/2021- 08/04/2024
Award Amount:$675,583

Participants
PI in collaboration with Nancy French at Michigan Tech. and Ron Prinn at MIT

Project Objectives

Wildfire burn severity has been rarely factored into regional carbon budget quantification due to lacking the spatially and temporally explicit data. Here we propose to use a process-based model driven with satellite-derived burn severity data to quantify regional carbon budget of boreal forest ecosystems in circumpolar regions (north 45oN) for the period of c1990-2020. We will first develop spatiotemporal data of wildfire burn area and severity information based on satellite and remote sensing products. The fire data will then be used to quantify both during- and post-fire carbon emissions and fluxes using a process-based biogeochemistry model, which will then be used as a prior for atmospheric transport and inversion modeling.

Process-based biogeochemistry model simulations will be used to test two hypotheses: 1) Spatially and temporally explicit fire burn area and severity will significantly improve regional carbon budget quantification in comparison with previous estimates; and 2) Burn severity is a major control to the level of permafrost thaw and ecosystem nitrogen availability, affecting soil decomposition and plant productivity, and the net ecosystem exchange after fire.

Atmospheric transport and inversion modeling will assess the role of boreal forests affected by wildfires in the regional carbon budget and global atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) CO2 data and ecosystem model simulated carbon fluxes will be used as a prior for atmospheric inversions. The inversion surface atmospheric CO2 will be evaluated with the GlobalView data while the a posterior carbon fluxes will be evaluated to assess the role of boreal forests and wildfires in the regional carbon budget.