Project Funding: 2016 - 2019

NRA: 2015 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
Indonesia ranks as the 3rd largest CO2eq emitting nation, largely due to episodic uncontrolled fires within drained peat-swamp forests. The original project (NNX13AP46G) set out to 1) provide extensive field investigation of land cover, hydrologic, fuel and fire dynamics in a 120,000 ha REDD+ project in Central Kalimantan; 2) Collect a new LIDAR dataset to complement our existing 2007 and 2011 coverages; 3) Conduct groundbreaking detailed emissions field sampling of smoldering in-situ peat fires; and 4) Generate a fully parameterized and validated annual emissions model for the study region in support of its REDD+ project. Despite extensive bureaucratic and logistical challenges and delays inherent in working in Indonesia, objectives 1-3 have now been completed and the modeling efforts are ongoing with all necessary data now in hand as we complete the original project time period. However, our recent unprecedented emission findings (Stockwell et al. 2016), gained in situ during the height of the 2015 El Niño, have documented substantial differences between the actual regional peat fire emissions and existing emission factors, indicating regional Indonesian carbon equivalent emissions (100 year) may have been 19% less than current IPCC-based emission factor estimates. The IPCC emission factors are derived from one lab study burning peat from Sumatra (Christian et al. 2003) and considerable variation in emissions may exist between peat fires of Indonesia’s three major peat formations highlighting the need for the additional field emissions measurements we intend to carry out in the continuation of the project proposed here. We propose expanding to a national level, our successful regional (Kalimantan) CMS project (NNX13AP46G), to better advance Indonesia’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) capabilities for peatland carbon emissions and support nationwide Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) efforts. We will implement our standardized field-based analyses of fuels, hydrology, peat burning characteristics and fire emissions, developed from our ongoing work in a 120,000 ha REDD+ project, to regionally parameterize our peatland emissions model for all of Indonesia’s major peatland areas by including three new locations, Riau and Jambi (Sumatra) and Western Papua (Papua), for inclusion within the Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS). We will conduct on-site whole air sampling of natural peat smoke plumes in situ for precise measurement of non-reactive greenhouse gases, collect peat samples just in front of these active peat fires, and burn the samples in the US while measuring aerosol mass and optical properties and reactive gases. This will create comprehensive and pertinent emissions factors (EFs) for each study region that will be critically important for assessing health impacts and total global warming potential (GWP) of these emissions. Remotely sensed land cover/change (Landsat) and surface fire ignition timing and locations (MODIS) provide spatial and temporal drivers for the modeled emissions that will now be validated/constrained at a national level using biomass burning emissions estimations derived from Visible/Infrared Imager and Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite and the new Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (Himawari-8). Multiple LIDAR datasets (2014, 2011, 2007) for Kalimantan are being used to quantify model accuracy, and new work will be undertaken to quantify uncertainty in our most recent LIDAR-based digital terrain model (DTM), further improving assessments of modeling errors.

Publications:

Applegate, Grahame, Laura L. B. Graham, Andri Thomas, Ahmad Yunan, Didie, Agus, Ato, Bambang H. Saharjo and Mark A. Cochrane. 2017.Fire Scene Evaluation Field Manual/ Petunjuk laPang evaluasi kejadian kebakaran Penerbit. IPB Press IPB Science Techno Park, Kota Bogor - Indonesia ISBN: 978-602-440-173-3

Goldstein, J. E., Graham, L., Ansori, S., Vetrita, Y., Thomas, A., Applegate, G., Vayda, A. P., Saharjo, B. H., Cochrane, M. A. 2020. Beyond slash-and-burn: The roles of human activities, altered hydrology and fuels in peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography. 41(2), 190-208. DOI: 10.1111/sjtg.12319

Jayarathne, T., Stockwell, C. E., Gilbert, A. A., Daugherty, K., Cochrane, M. A., Ryan, K. C., Putra, E. I., Saharjo, B. H., Nurhayati, A. D., Albar, I., Yokelson, R. J., Stone, E. A. 2018. Chemical characterization of fine particulate matter emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Nino. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 18(4), 2585-2600. DOI: 10.5194/acp-18-2585-2018

Kemal Putra, I., Hero Saharjo, B., Wasis, B. 2019. Institutional Challenge on Forest and Land Fire Management at the Site Level. Jurnal Ilmu Pertanian Indonesia. 24(2), 151-159. DOI: 10.18343/jipi.24.2.151

Li, F., Zhang, X., Kondragunta, S., Lu, X. 2020. An evaluation of advanced baseline imager fire radiative power based wildfire emissions using carbon monoxide observed by the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument across the conterminous United States. Environmental Research Letters. 15(9), 094049. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab9d3a

Lu, X., Zhang, X., Li, F., Cochrane, M. A. 2019. Investigating Smoke Aerosol Emission Coefficients Using MODIS Active Fire and Aerosol Products: A Case Study in the CONUS and Indonesia. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 124(6), 1413-1429. DOI: 10.1029/2018JG004974

Putra, E. I., Cochrane, M. A., Vetrita, Y., Graham, L., Saharjo, B. H. 2018. Determining critical groundwater level to prevent degraded peatland from severe peat fire. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 149, 012027. DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/149/1/012027

Sinclair, A. L., Graham, L. L., Putra, E. I., Saharjo, B. H., Applegate, G., Grover, S. P., Cochrane, M. A. 2020. Effects of distance from canal and degradation history on peat bulk density in a degraded tropical peatland. Science of The Total Environment. 699, 134199. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134199

Vetrita, Y., Cochrane, M. A. 2019. Fire Frequency and Related Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in Indonesia's Peatlands. Remote Sensing. 12(1), 5. DOI: 10.3390/rs12010005

Yokelson, R. J., Saharjo, B. H., Stockwell, C. E., Putra, E. I., Jayarathne, T., Akbar, A., Albar, I., Blake, D. R., Graham, L. L. B., Kurniawan, A., Meinardi, S., Ningrum, D., Nurhayati, A. D., Saad, A., Sakuntaladewi, N., Setianto, E., Simpson, I. J., Stone, E. A., Sutikno, S., Thomas, A., Ryan, K. C., Cochrane, M. A. 2022. Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 22(15), 10173-10194. DOI: 10.5194/acp-22-10173-2022

Zarzana, K. J., Selimovic, V., Koss, A. R., Sekimoto, K., Coggon, M. M., Yuan, B., Dube, W. P., Yokelson, R. J., Warneke, C., de Gouw, J. A., Roberts, J. M., Brown, S. S. Primary emissions of glyoxal and methylglyoxal from laboratory measurements of open biomass burning DOI: 10.5194/acp-2018-521

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Project Profile