Wildland fire and wildland fire atmospheric emissions have been a part of the global biosphere for millennia.Pyne, S.J. 1995. World fire: The culture of fire on earth. University of Washington Press. 384 pp. The major wildland fire emissions include greenhouse gases and several criteria pollutants that impact human health and welfare.:National Research Council: Committee on Air Quality Management in the United States, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Division on Earth and Life Studies (2004). Air Quality Management in the United States. National Academies Press. Emissions Grams of emission / kilogram of fuel burned Percentage Carbon dioxide 1564.8 71.44% Water 459.2 20.97% Carbon monoxide 120.9 5.52%Atmospheric particulate matter <2.5μ 10.3 0.47% Nitric oxide 8.5 0.39% Methane 5.9 0.27% Volatile organic compounds 5.2 0.24% Organic carbon 5.2 0.24% Non-methane hydrocarbon 4.3 0.20% Particulate matter > 10μ 3.8 0.17% Particulate matter <10μ and >2.5μ 1.9 0.09% Elemental carbon 0.4 0.02%
Compared to the preindustrial era, wildland land fire in the conterminous U.S. has been reduced 90 percent with proportional reductions in wildland fire emissions. Land use changes (agriculture and urbanization) are responsible for roughly 50 percent of this decrease, and land management decisions (land fragmentation, suppression actions, etc.) are responsible for the remainder. Anthropogenic activities (e.g., industrial production, transportation, agriculture, etc.) today have more than replaced the lost preindustrial wildland fire atmospheric emissions.Leenhouts, B. 1998.Assessment of biomass burning in the conterminous United States. Conservation Ecology [online] 2(1): 1.
The following charts compare preindustrial wildland fire emissions Leenhouts, B. 1998. Assessment of biomass burning in the conterminous United States. Conservation Ecology [online] 2(1): 1. with contemporary emissions.EPA. 1998. The National Air Pollutant Emission Trends: 1900-1997Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 - 1999
In addition to greenhouse gas emissions, particulates and smoke released can scatter or absorb solar radiation and be deposited elsewhere where they may affect albedo particularly if landing on snow or glaciers.
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