Impact of deforestation on biomass burning in the tropics

Book · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:182799

Hao, W M; Liu, M H ^[1]; Ward, D E ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)
2. Forest Service, Missoula, MT (United States)

Fires are widely used for various land use practices in tropical countries. Large amounts of trace gases and aerosol particles are produced during the fires. It is important to assess the potential impact of these gases and particulate matter on the chemistry of the atmosphere and global climate. One of the largest uncertainties in quantifying the effects is the lack of information on the source strengths. The authors quantify the amount of biomass burned due to deforestation in each tropical country on basis of the deforestation rate, the above ground density, and the fraction of above ground biomass burned. Approximately 725 Tg of biomass were burned in 1980 and 984 Tg were burned in 1990. The 36% increase took place mostly in Latin America and tropical Asia. The largest source was Brazil, contributing about 29% of the total biomass burned in the tropics. The second largest source was Indonesia accounting for 10%, followed by Zaire accounting for about 8%. The burning of biomass due to increased deforestation has resulted in an additional 33 Tg CO and 2.5 Tg CH{sub 4} emitted annually to the atmosphere from 1980 to 1990.

• OSTI ID: 182799
• Report Number(s): CONF-940426--; ISBN 0-923204-11-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
ASIA
BIOMASS
CARBON MONOXIDE
COMBUSTION
DEFORESTATION
EMISSION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
LATIN AMERICA
METHANE
POLLUTION SOURCES
TROPICAL REGIONS