Impacts of Fire-Free Interval on Soil Carbon Consumption, Fire Distribution, and Carbon Cycling in the Alaska Boreal Forest Region

Elizabeth E Hoy, NASA/Sigma Space/University of Maryland, elizabeth.hoy@nasa.gov (Presenter)
Eric S. Kasischke, University of Maryland, ekasisch@umd.edu

One of the projected impacts of climate change is an increase in the frequency of burned area across the boreal forest region of North America, which in turn, will reduce the fire-free interval at regional and landscape scales. Research is needed to better understand the impacts of changing a fire frequency on the Alaskan boreal forest region. Here, research was conducted to determine how a shorter fire free interval (e.g., the time since the last fire event) influenced carbon cycling in Alaskan boreal forests. Field-based research was conducted to assess how shorter fire-free intervals affected consumption of soil organic carbon in Alaskan black spruce forests. Satellite remote sensing data were integrated with fire perimeters from a large-fire database to assess how time since the last fire influenced the fraction of the landscape that burned during fire events during the 2002 to 2008 fire seasons. The results of these two studies were then integrated to improve models of carbon consumption due to wildfire across Alaskan boreal regions.

Presentation: 2013_Poster_Hoy_90_120.pdf (2259k)

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Poster Session 2-B   (Wed 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Related Activity or Previously Funded TE Activity

Poster Location ID: 90