Developing data layers for estimating and modeling interactions between fire and carbon cycle in Siberia

Susan Conard, USDA Forest Service (retired emeritus scientist), sgconard@aol.com (Presenter)
Wei Min Hao, US Forest Service, whao@fs.fed.us
Don Cahoon, Consultant, cahoonski@gmail.com
Bill de Groot, Canadian Forest Service, bill.degroot@nrcan.gc.ca
Galina Ivanova, Sukachev Institute of Forest, gaivanova@ksc.krasn.ru
Elena Kukavskaya, Sukachev Institute of Forest, kukavskaya@ksc.krasn.ru
Evgenii Ponomarev, Sukachev Institute of Forest, evg@ksc.krasn.ru
Amber Soja, National Institute of Aerospace / NASA LaRC, amber.j.soja@nasa.gov
Brian Stocks, Wildfire Investigations, brianstocks@sympatico.ca
Douglas J. McRae, Natural Resources Canada (retired), mcraedouglas@hotmail.com

The circumpolar boreal zone has global significance in terms of climate change impacts and carbon storage. Wildfires are the dominant disturbance regime in the boreal zone, burning 10 to 25 million hectares per year. These fires are a significant source of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and aerosols. Fire activity in the boreal zone is projected to increase substantially as climate changes. Projecting the impacts of changing climate on future fire regimes and the interactions of fire with carbon storage and atmospheric chemistry under a changing climate requires baseline data on historic fire activity. A major focus of our work has been to develop an integrated database of burned areas for Siberia and the Russian Far East covering the 30-year period from 1980-2010. The remote sensing products and analysis approaches for this data base have changed over time, so considerable cross-calibration is necessary. Estimating the effects of mapped fires requires additional data on vegetation types that are burning, fire regimes of these vegetation types, fuel loading and structure, and historical fire weather, as well as realistic fire behavior models. These data will provide an essential foundation for estimating fuel consumption and fire emissions and determining past relationships between fire occurrence, fire distribution, and climate. We are integrating these data into a common geospatial framework and using them to parameterize the CanFIRE modeling system for the Asian part of Russia, from the Ural mountains to the Pacific. This poster describes progress in developing these essential data components, as well as preliminary modeling results for a test region in central Siberia. The aspects of our project related to future projections of climate change impacts and to multi-century relationships between fire and climate are not discussed here, but work is ongoing.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Poster Session 1-A   (Tue 11:00 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Integrating Historic Patterns of Wildfire, Emissions, and Integrating Historic Patterns of Wildfire, Emissions, and Climate for Siberia as a Basis for Estimating the Impacts of Fire on Carbon Cycling, Quantifying Past Fire/Climate Interactions, and Projecting Future Fire/Climate Change Impacts

Poster Location ID: 26