Project Funding: 2008 - 2011

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
A major goal of the North American Carbon Program is to resolve uncertainties in understanding and managing the carbon cycle of North America. As carbon modeling tools become more comprehensive and spatially oriented, accurate datasets to spatially quantify carbon emissions from fire are needed. Under the proposed project, Dr. Nancy French, of the Michigan Technological University, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), will extend her current NASA-NIP funded research to team with specialists at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Center’s Fire and Environmental Research Applications (FERA) lab. The team proposes to provide information for mapping fire-derived carbon emissions by adapting existing Forest Service fire information products and tools using NASA data and products. The goal of the proposed project is: To develop a prototype information system with the help of user input for disseminating improved products for modeling and estimating fire emissions across North America. The project has two components: - Develop new and accurate user-friendly products for estimating fire emissions at regional scales that are consistent across international borders based on NASA-derived datasets and models and the adaptation of FERA information products and models. - Provide an effective process for accessing and using new products and emissions models through an on-line information system (Internet Mapping Service, IMS). The USFS has developed the FCCS, to describe fire fuels across North America, and Consume 3.0, a model for estimating fuel consumption and emissions. Developed primarily for applications of fire effects, these tools hold potential for quantifying carbon emissions to better understand the implications of fire to carbon cycling and carbon management. The proposed project will build on PI French’s current NASA NIP to use remote sensing for quantifying the variability in fuel consumption and develop FERA tools for use in quantifying regional to continental-scale fire emissions. Carbon assessment tools developed through the North American Carbon Program, such as Carbon Tracker, will provide a context for development of datasets and methods for production of user-accessible information products.

Publications:

French, N. H. F., de Groot, W. J., Jenkins, L. K., Rogers, B. M., Alvarado, E., Amiro, B., de Jong, B., Goetz, S., Hoy, E., Hyer, E., Keane, R., Law, B. E., McKenzie, D., McNulty, S. G., Ottmar, R., Perez-Salicrup, D. R., Randerson, J., Robertson, K. M., Turetsky, M. 2011. Model comparisons for estimating carbon emissions from North American wildland fire. Journal of Geophysical Research. 116. DOI: 10.1029/2010JG001469

McKenzie, D., French, N. H. F., Ottmar, R. D. 2012. National database for calculating fuel available to wildfires. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 93(6), 57-58. DOI: 10.1029/2012EO060002

Kasischke, E. S., Loboda, T., Giglio, L., French, N. H. F., Hoy, E. E., de Jong, B., Riano, D. 2011. Quantifying burned area for North American forests: Implications for direct reduction of carbon stocks. Journal of Geophysical Research. 116(G4). DOI: 10.1029/2011JG001707

Grosse, G., Harden, J., Turetsky, M., McGuire, A. D., Camill, P., Tarnocai, C., Frolking, S., Schuur, E. A. G., Jorgenson, T., Marchenko, S., Romanovsky, V., Wickland, K. P., French, N., Waldrop, M., Bourgeau-Chavez, L., Striegl, R. G. 2011. Vulnerability of high-latitude soil organic carbon in North America to disturbance. Journal of Geophysical Research. 116. DOI: 10.1029/2010JG001507

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

• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile