Project Funding: 2017 - 2020

NRA: 2016 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
Fire is a critical component of the Earth system. NASA’s Earth observing satellites monitor active fires, map burned area, and estimate trace gas and aerosol emissions from fires worldwide. Globally, fires emit more than 2 Pg C per year, yet important challenges remain with respect to integrating fire emissions into carbon monitoring systems. One impediment to routine monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of fires is the need for emissions information over a range of temporal and spatial scales. On daily to weekly time scales, near-real time fire emissions data are needed to support forecasts and response efforts during wildfire emergencies. Time series of annual fire emissions by fire type, such as products from the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED), are important for greenhouse gas reporting at regional, national, and global scales, including the Global Carbon Project’s annual Carbon Budget. Over longer time scales, the 17-year Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data record now captures important year-to- year variability and secular trends in global fire activity from changing land use and climate. Here, we propose to develop a suite of GFED products to better integrate fire emissions information into existing carbon monitoring systems. New products specifically target carbon monitoring system and stakeholder needs for low-latency data products, improved estimates of global burning and trends, and a detailed assessment of the direct and indirect contributions from fire to the global methane budget. First, we will create a near- real time GFED emissions product using new, 375 m resolution Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fire detections. In parallel, we propose to develop and release GFED Version 5, building on improvements to Collection 6 MODIS burned area, VIIRS active fire detections, and novel constraints on fuel loads from biomass datasets developed by prior NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) projects. Third, we will run GEOS-Chem atmospheric model simulations to estimate the influence of global fire activity on methane emissions and methane lifetimes based on changing hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations. Fourth, satellite data suggest a strong decline in savanna and grassland fires over the past two decades; we propose to evaluate changing fire dynamics using individual fire information and higher resolution Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data for case study regions with declining fire activity. Finally, we will update and expand the online GFED Analysis Tool to serve near-real time GFED5 products and support stakeholder interest in fire activity and reporting at a range of spatial and temporal scales. This suite of GFED5 products specifically targets data needs for ongoing CMS-Flux research, global analysis of CO2 and CH4 by the Global Carbon Project and NOAA's Carbon Tracker, and scientific and media interest in large wildfire complexes as they develop. The proposed research directly responds to three components of the ROSES A.7 CMS research announcement, including the need to “advance remote sensing-based approaches to monitoring, reporting, and verification,” “extend, and/or improve existing CMS products for biomass or flux resulting from NASA’s first phases of CMS pilot studies,” and “enhance national reported carbon emissions inventories.” The proposed effort will provide consistent global fire emissions data products for over two decades, grounded in NASA satellite observations, to support greenhouse gas MRV efforts and advance our understanding of fire in the Earth System. Investments in near-real time GFED products and an online data delivery and analysis system will harness the full potential of NASA’s remote sensing observations for stakeholder engagement and research needs on fire carbon losses, atmospheric chemistry, and attribution of changing fire dynamics to human activity and climate.

Publications:

Andela, N., Morton, D. C., Giglio, L., Paugam, R., Chen, Y., Hantson, S., van der Werf, G. R., Randerson, J. T. 2019. The Global Fire Atlas of individual fire size, duration, speed and direction. Earth System Science Data. 11(2), 529-552. DOI: 10.5194/essd-11-529-2019

Andela, N., Morton, D. C., Schroeder, W., Chen, Y., Brando, P. M., Randerson, J. T. 2022. Tracking and classifying Amazon fire events in near real time. Science Advances. 8(30). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd2713

Chen, Y., Hantson, S., Andela, N., Coffield, S. R., Graff, C. A., Morton, D. C., Ott, L. E., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Smyth, P., Goulden, M. L., Randerson, J. T. 2022. California wildfire spread derived using VIIRS satellite observations and an object-based tracking system. Scientific Data. 9(1). DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01343-0

Chen, Y., Langenbrunner, B., Randerson, J. T. 2018. Future Drying in Central America and Northern South America Linked With Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Geophysical Research Letters. 45(17), 9226-9235. DOI: 10.1029/2018GL077953

Chen, Y., Morton, D. C., Andela, N., van der Werf, G. R., Giglio, L., Randerson, J. T. 2017. A pan-tropical cascade of fire driven by El Nino/Southern Oscillation. Nature Climate Change. 7(12), 906-911. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-017-0014-8

Chen, Y., Randerson, J. T., Coffield, S. R., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Smyth, P., Graff, C. A., Morton, D. C., Andela, N., Werf, G. R., Giglio, L., Ott, L. E. 2020. Forecasting Global Fire Emissions on Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Time Scales. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. 12(9). DOI: 10.1029/2019MS001955

Chen, Y., Randerson, J. T., Coffield, S. R., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Smyth, P., Graff, C. A., Morton, D. C., Andela, N., Werf, G. R., Giglio, L., Ott, L. E. 2020. Forecasting Global Fire Emissions on Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Time Scales. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. 12(9). DOI: 10.1029/2019MS001955

Coffield, S. R., Graff, C. A., Chen, Y., Smyth, P., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Randerson, J. T. 2019. Machine learning to predict final fire size at the time of ignition. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 28(11), 861. DOI: 10.1071/WF19023

Gorris, M. E., Treseder, K. K., Zender, C. S., Randerson, J. T. 2019. Expansion of Coccidioidomycosis Endemic Regions in the United States in Response to Climate Change. GeoHealth. 3(10), 308-327. DOI: 10.1029/2019GH000209

Langenbrunner, B., Pritchard, M. S., Kooperman, G. J., Randerson, J. T. 2019. Why Does Amazon Precipitation Decrease When Tropical Forests Respond to Increasing CO 2 ? Earth's Future. 7(4), 450-468. DOI: 10.1029/2018EF001026

Levine, P. A., Randerson, J. T., Chen, Y., Pritchard, M. S., Xu, M., Hoffman, F. M. 2019. Soil Moisture Variability Intensifies and Prolongs Eastern Amazon Temperature and Carbon Cycle Response to El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Journal of Climate. 32(4), 1273-1292. DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0150.1

Wang, J. A., Baccini, A., Farina, M., Randerson, J. T., Friedl, M. A. 2021. Disturbance suppresses the aboveground carbon sink in North American boreal forests. Nature Climate Change. 11(5), 435-441. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01027-4

Wiggins, E. B., Andrews, A., Sweeney, C., Miller, J. B., Miller, C. E., Veraverbeke, S., Commane, R., Wofsy, S., Henderson, J. M., Randerson, J. T. 2021. Boreal forest fire CO and CH<sub>4</sub> emission factors derived from tower observations in Alaska during the extreme fire season of 2015. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 21(11), 8557-8574. DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-8557-2021

Wiggins, E. B., Czimczik, C. I., Santos, G. M., Chen, Y., Xu, X., Holden, S. R., Randerson, J. T., Harvey, C. F., Kai, F. M., Yu, L. E. 2018. Smoke radiocarbon measurements from Indonesian fires provide evidence for burning of millennia-aged peat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115(49), 12419-12424. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1806003115

Woodard, D. L., Davis, S. J., Randerson, J. T. 2018. Economic carbon cycle feedbacks may offset additional warming from natural feedbacks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116(3), 759-764. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805187115

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

• NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Project Profile