Chinese researchers quantify global carbon emissions from biomass burning

BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese research team has employed the country's Fengyun-3D satellite's global fire spot monitoring data to quantify global carbon emissions from open biomass burning (OBB) and develop a global high-resolution daily OBB emission inventory.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

OBB--characterized by its periodic nature, randomness, multiple sources, broad impact, and challenges in monitoring--is a major source of global carbon emissions, including forest fires, grassland fires, shrub fires, and crop residue burning.

Accurately quantifying carbon emissions from OBB is crucial for understanding terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycles and is essential for determining carbon budget balances on both global and regional scales.

Additionally, carbon emissions from OBB are a key input for atmospheric chemical transport models. Accurate and reliable emission inventories improve the precision of these models.

Hence, scientifically and effectively calculating OBB carbon emissions is essential for understanding both terrestrial carbon cycles and atmospheric carbon concentrations.

This study quantified the estimated global average annual OBB carbon emissions from different regions and fire types during 2020 and 2022. Southern Africa was found to be the primary source of global OBB carbon emissions totaling 850 million tonnes annually. It was followed by southern South America, northern Africa and Southeast Asia, whose emissions hit 530 million, 390 million and 200 million tonnes per year, respectively.

The contributions of each fire type to the global OBB carbon emissions were also quantified. Savanna grasslands fires were found to be the leading source, contributing an average of 1.21 billion tonnes of carbon per year, which accounted for 46.7 percent of the global total. It was followed by shrub fires and tropical forest fires, which represented 33 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively.

This detailed breakdown not only highlights the specific impact of different types of fires on carbon emissions but also emphasizes the need for targeted control measures for each fire type.

"The study presents new methods for precisely quantifying how global OBB emissions affect atmospheric carbon dioxide levels," said Shi Yusheng, corresponding author of the study.

Shi added that the study also provides crucial scientific evidence for managing OBB and offers essential guidance for implementing environmental policies focused on ecological management and coordinated carbon reduction.