McGuire, A. (Dave): USGS (Co-Investigator)
Turetsky, Merritt: University Of Colorado, Boulder (Co-Investigator)
French, Nancy: Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) (Participant)
Project Funding:
2005 - 2009
NRA: 2004 NASA: Carbon Cycle Science
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
A three year study was carried out between 2005 and 2008 to further investigate how burning of deep organic soils influences carbon cycling in North American boreal forests. A one-year extension was obtained for this project to complete the studies associated with this project. An early finding from this study was the source of increase in annual area burned across the North American forest was an increase in the frequency of large fire years at a sub-regional scale. We determined that increased area burned was manifested in more late season burning in the western North American boreal forest region. In the project, we focused our research on burning of surface organic layers in black spruce forests in interior Alaska. Mature black spruce forests cover some 60 percent of forested lands in this region and 50% across Canada. Because of their deep surface organic layers, these forests contain >80 percent of all carbon in interior Alaskan forests. During our study, we collected an extensive set of field data to measure surface fuel consumption in black spruce forests and combined these data with similar measurements collected during previous studies by the investigators and ongoing studies by collaborators in the USGS and USFS. From these data, we determined that topographic position and timing of the fire during the growing season controlled ground layer carbon consumption. We determined that the levels of fuel consumption from burning of surface organic layer material in black spruce forests ranged between 3.5 and 5.5 kg carbon per sq. m. Using satellite information products, we analyzed the spatial/ temporal characteristics of fire during the record 2004 Alaskan fire season. We used the field observations of fuel consumption to update a model of fire fuel consumption driven by seasonal variations in climatic variables and differences in fuel load based on vegetation type. Using this model, we estimated daily carbon emissions from the 2004 Alaskan fires. Our estimates of carbon emissions from these fires (75 Tg) were 2 to 3 times higher than those estimated by other models developed under NASA sponsorship (BWEM and GFED). Finally, in collaboration with the USGS, we undertook steps to update the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) to more precisely account for the impacts of variations in depth of burning on permafrost and carbon cycling. We are currently assessing these updates. We are currently drafting additional manuscripts summarizing are findings.
Publications:
Balshi, M. S., McGuire, A. D., Zhuang, Q., Melillo, J., Kicklighter, D. W., Kasischke, E., Wirth, C., Flannigan, M., Harden, J., Clein, J. S., Burnside, T. J., McAllister, J., Kurz, W. A., Apps, M., Shvidenko, A. 2007. The role of historical fire disturbance in the carbon dynamics of the pan-boreal region: A process-based analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research. 112(G2). DOI: 10.1029/2006JG000380
French, N. H. F., Kasischke, E. S., Hall, R. J., Murphy, K. A., Verbyla, D. L., Hoy, E. E., Allen, J. L. 2008. Using Landsat data to assess fire and burn severity in the North American boreal forest region: an overview and summary of results. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 17(4), 443. DOI: 10.1071/WF08007
Hoy, E. E., French, N. H. F., Turetsky, M. R., Trigg, S. N., Kasischke, E. S. 2008. Evaluating the potential of Landsat TM/ETM+ imagery for assessing fire severity in Alaskan black spruce forests. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 17(4), 500. DOI: 10.1071/WF08107
Kane, E. S., Kasischke, E. S., Valentine, D. W., Turetsky, M. R., McGuire, A. D. 2007. Topographic influences on wildfire consumption of soil organic carbon in interior Alaska: Implications for black carbon accumulation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 112(G3). DOI: 10.1029/2007JG000458
Kasischke, E. S., Turetsky, M. R. 2006. Recent changes in the fire regime across the North American boreal region--Spatial and temporal patterns of burning across Canada and Alaska. Geophysical Research Letters. 33(9). DOI: 10.1029/2006GL025677
Kasischke, E. S., & Chapin III, F. S. (2008). Increasing Vulnerability of Alaska's Boreal Forest as a Result of Climate Warming and the Changing Fire Regime. In M. C. MacCracken & F. Moore & J. C. J. Topping (Eds.), Sudden and Disruptive Climate Change:Exploring the Real Risks and How We Can Avoid Them (pp. 175-192). London: Earthscan Publications.
Kasischke, E. S., Turetsky, M. R., Ottmar, R. D., French, N. H. F., Hoy, E. E., Kane, E. S. 2008. Evaluation of the composite burn index for assessing fire severity in Alaskan black spruce forests. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 17(4), 515. DOI: 10.1071/WF08002
Shetler, G., Turetsky, M. R., Kane, E., Kasischke, E. 2008. Sphagnum mosses limit total carbon consumption during fire in Alaskan black spruce forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 38(8), 2328-2336. DOI: 10.1139/X08-057
Verbyla, D. L., Kasischke, E. S., Hoy, E. E. 2008. Seasonal and topographic effects on estimating fire severity from Landsat TM/ETM+ data. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 17(4), 527. DOI: 10.1071/WF08038
Yi, S., McGuire, A. D., Harden, J., Kasischke, E., Manies, K., Hinzman, L., Liljedahl, A., Randerson, J., Liu, H., Romanovsky, V., Marchenko, S., Kim, Y. 2009. Interactions between soil thermal and hydrological dynamics in the response of Alaska ecosystems to fire disturbance. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 114(G2). DOI: 10.1029/2008JG000841
Yi, S., McGuire, A. D., Kasischke, E., Harden, J., Manies, K., Mack, M., Turetsky, M. 2010. A dynamic organic soil biogeochemical model for simulating the effects of wildfire on soil environmental conditions and carbon dynamics of black spruce forests. Journal of Geophysical Research. 115(G4). DOI: 10.1029/2010JG001302
2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters
- Improved estimates of carbon emissions from the 2004 Alaska wildfires
-- (Eric S. Kasischke, Elizabeth Hoy, Merritt R. Turetsky, Nancy H.F. French, Bill de Groot, Evan S. Kane, Jennifer Harden)
[abstract]
- A dynamic soil layer model for assessing the effects of wildfire on high latitude terrestrial ecosystems
-- (Shuhua S. Yi, A. David McGuire, Eric S. Kasischke)
[abstract]
[poster]
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
