Impact of fire on global land surface air temperature and energy budget for the 20th century due to changes within ecosystems
Abstract
Fire is a global phenomenon and tightly interacts with the biosphere and climate. This study provides the first quantitative assessment and understanding of fire’s influence on the global annual land surface air temperature and energy budget through its impact on terrestrial ecosystems. Fire impacts are quantified by comparing fire-on and fire-off simulations with the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Results show that, for the 20th century average, fire-induced changes in terrestrial ecosystems significantly increase global land annual mean surface air temperature by 0.18 °C, decrease surface net radiation and latent heat flux by 1.08 W m -2 and 0.99 W m-2, respectively, and have limited influence on sensible heat flux ( 0.11 W m-2) and ground heat flux (þ0.02 W m-2). Fire impacts are most clearly seen in the tropical savannas. Our analyses suggest that fire increases surface air temperature predominantly by reducing latent heat flux, mainly due to fire-induced damage to the vegetation canopy, and decreases net radiation primarily because fire-induced surface warming significantly increases upward surface longwave radiation. This study provides an integrated estimate of fire and induced changes in ecosystems, climate, and energy budget at a global scale, and emphasizes the importance of a consistent and integratedmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); State Key Project for Basic Research Program of China; China Scholarship Council
- Contributing Org.:
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1349698
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1358487; OSTI ID: 1361670
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-120341
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC03-97ER62402; 2010CB951801; 41475099
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters Journal Volume: 12 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; fire; climate; global energy budget; terrestrial ecosystems; earth system modeling; global change
Citation Formats
Li, Fang, Lawrence, David M., and Bond-Lamberty, Ben. Impact of fire on global land surface air temperature and energy budget for the 20th century due to changes within ecosystems. United Kingdom: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa6685.
Li, Fang, Lawrence, David M., & Bond-Lamberty, Ben. Impact of fire on global land surface air temperature and energy budget for the 20th century due to changes within ecosystems. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6685
Li, Fang, Lawrence, David M., and Bond-Lamberty, Ben. Mon .
"Impact of fire on global land surface air temperature and energy budget for the 20th century due to changes within ecosystems". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6685.
@article{osti_1349698,
title = {Impact of fire on global land surface air temperature and energy budget for the 20th century due to changes within ecosystems},
author = {Li, Fang and Lawrence, David M. and Bond-Lamberty, Ben},
abstractNote = {Fire is a global phenomenon and tightly interacts with the biosphere and climate. This study provides the first quantitative assessment and understanding of fire’s influence on the global annual land surface air temperature and energy budget through its impact on terrestrial ecosystems. Fire impacts are quantified by comparing fire-on and fire-off simulations with the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Results show that, for the 20th century average, fire-induced changes in terrestrial ecosystems significantly increase global land annual mean surface air temperature by 0.18 °C, decrease surface net radiation and latent heat flux by 1.08 W m -2 and 0.99 W m-2, respectively, and have limited influence on sensible heat flux ( 0.11 W m-2) and ground heat flux (þ0.02 W m-2). Fire impacts are most clearly seen in the tropical savannas. Our analyses suggest that fire increases surface air temperature predominantly by reducing latent heat flux, mainly due to fire-induced damage to the vegetation canopy, and decreases net radiation primarily because fire-induced surface warming significantly increases upward surface longwave radiation. This study provides an integrated estimate of fire and induced changes in ecosystems, climate, and energy budget at a global scale, and emphasizes the importance of a consistent and integrated understanding of fire effects.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aa6685},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
number = 4,
volume = 12,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Mon Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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