Arctic Deposition of Black Carbon from

Biomass Burning in Northern Eurasia:

2002 − 2013

W. M. Hao1, A. Petkov1, B. Nordgren1, R. Corley1, R. Silverstein1, S. Urbanski1, N.

Evangeliou2,3, Y. Balkanski2

1U.S. Forest Service, RMRS Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana, USA

2Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), CEA-UVSQ-

CNRS UMR 8212, Institut Pierre et Simon Laplace, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

3Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway

Why Black Carbon in Northern Eurasia?

Develop a Mitigation Policy for BC Emissions

Global

• the 2nd most important species for climate forcing

• Short lifetime: ~ a week

• Sources: industry 64% , biomass burning 36%

Northern Eurasia

• Reducing surface albedo

• Absorbing solar radiation that leads to accelerated ice melting in the Arctic

• Sources: biomass burning and industries (?)

• Deposition efficiency: % (?) of emitted BC deposited on the Arctic

Objectives

• Develop high spatial (500 m x 500 m) and temporal

(daily) distribution of black carbon emissions from

fires in Northern Eurasia from 2002 to 2013

• Identify the major sources of fires in different

ecosystems: forest, grassland, shrubland, savanna,

and agriculture

• Analyze seasonal and inter-annual variability of

sources, transport, and deposition of black carbon

from fires in Northern Eurasia to Arctic ice

Computation

E = A × FL × α × EF

E: amount of emitted black carbon at any spatial and

temporal scales

A: area burned

FL: fuel loading, or the amount of fuel to be burned

α: combustion completeness, or % of biomass burned

EF: emission factor of black carbon

Northern Eurasia 2003

Burned Area by Months and Land Cover Type

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

Months

Forest

Shrubland

Savanna

Grassland

Land Cover Type

Fuel Loading

• Fuel loading of coarse woody debris, duff, shrub, lower layers

in Northern Eurasia at a 500 m x 500 m resolution

• Data Sources:

− MODIS land cover map (MOD12, v5)

− 2010 land cover map at a 250 m resolution for Russian

Federation provided by the Space Research Institute (SRI)

of the Russian Academy of Sciences

− 2010 dominant forest species map at a 250 m resolution

over Russian Federation provided by SPI

− 2003 Forestry Inventory Survey of Russian Federation

− IPCC Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map for 2000

Fuel Loading of CWD, Duff, Litter, and Non-Forest

MODIS Burned Area 2012

Trans-Siberian Railway

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2002

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2004

Black Carbon

Emissions 2005

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2003

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2006

Black Carbon

Emissions 2007

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2008

Black Carbon

Emissions 2009

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2010

Black Carbon

Emissions 2011

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Black Carbon

Emissions 2012

Black Carbon

Emissions 2013

Label BC Emissions

kg/day/pixel

0 - 250

250 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 2000

2000 - 3000

3000 - 6625

Daily Black Carbon Emissions in Northern Eurasia:

2002 to 2013

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

J F F M A M J J A S O N D

BC

Em

issi

on

s (G

g/D

ay

)

Month

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

0

200

400

600

800

1 000

1 200

1 400

1 600

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Bla

ck C

arb

on

Em

issi

on

s (1

06 k

g)

Year

Forest Grassland Shrubland Savanna

Black Carbon Emissions in Northern Eurasia by Land Cover:

2002 to 2013

Comparisons of BC Emissions from FEI-NE, GFED4,

GFED3

FEI-NE is about 3.5 times higher than GFED4

Forest: FEI-NE > 2.5 GFED4

Non-forest: FEI-NE 3.2 Tg vs. GFED4 0.5 Tg

Transport & Deposition

• Biomass burning source in Northern

Eurasia: this study

• Anthropogenic and biomass

burning sources for other regions:

MACCity

• 3-D Global Chemistry-Aerosol-

Climate Model: LMDz-OR-INCA

Comparisons of

modeled atmospheric

BC concentrations with

BC measurements at

monitoring stations in

the Arctic during the

period of 2002 ˗ 2013

Conclusions

• BC emissions from fires over Northern Eurasia varied enormously

• An average of 0.82±0.50 Tg from 2002 to 2013 (n=12)

• Account for ~11% of the global BC sources, or 30% of the total

biomass burning source

Deposition

• ~31% of the emitted BC from biomass burning in Northern Eurasia

was deposited in the Arctic

• Account for 40 -73% of the BC deposited from all possible sources

• BC deposition on the Arctic estimated by FEI-NE was 28% higher

than GFED3 estimates

Sources

• 68% of BC emissions occurred from fires in forests, followed by

grassland (15%)

• 83% of BC emissions from forest fires occurred in Russia

• Central and Western Asia is the major region for BC emissions

from grassland fires (53%), followed by Russia (35%)

• Peak years of emissions: 2003, 2008, 2012

• The majority of BC emissions from fires occurred in March –

May

• Overall, Russia contributed 83% of the total BC emissions from

fires in Northern Eurasia