Arctic Deposition of Black Carbon from Fires in Northern Eurasia from 2002 to 2013

Abstract:

Black carbon (BC) in smoke plumes from fires in Northern Eurasia can be transported and deposited on Arctic ice and accelerate ice melting. Thus, we developed daily BC emissions from fires in this region at a 500 m x 500 m resolution from 2002 to 2013 and modeled the BC transport and deposition in the Arctic. BC emissions were estimated based on MODIS land cover maps and detected burned areas, the Forest Inventory Survey of the Russian Federation, and biomass specific BC emission factors. An average of 250,000 km² were burned annually in Northern Eurasia. Grassland dominates the total burned area (61%), followed by forest (27%). For grassland fires, about three-quarters of the area burned occurred in Central and Western Asia and about 17% in Russia. More than 90% of the forest burned area was in Russia. Annual BC emissions from Northern Eurasian fires varied enormously with an average of 0.82±0.50 Tg. In contrast to burned area, forest fires dominated BC emissions and accounted for about two-thirds of the emissions, followed by grassland fires (15%). More than 90% of the BC emissions from forest fires occurred in Russia. Overall, Russia contributed 83% of the total BC emissions from fires in Northern Eurasia. The transport and deposition of BC on Arctic ice from all the global sources was estimated using the LMDz-OR-INCA global chemistry-aerosol-climate model. About 7.9% of emitted BC from fires were deposited on the Arctic ice, accounting for 45-78% of the BC deposited from all sources. However, about 20% of the BC emitted from fires were deposited on Arctic in spring which is the most effective period for acceleration of melting of ice. The simulated BC concentrations are consistent with obserations at the Arctic monitoring stations of Albert, Barrow, Nord, Zeppelin, and Tiksi.