A Field Study of Tropical Peat Fire Behaviour and Associated Carbon Emissions

Laura Graham; Grahame Applegate; Andri Thomas; Kevin Ryan; Bambang H Saharjo; Mark A Cochrane

doi:10.3390/fire5030062

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A Field Study of Tropical Peat Fire Behaviour and Associated Carbon Emissions

Journal article

Open access

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A Field Study of Tropical Peat Fire Behaviour and Associated Carbon Emissions

Laura Graham, Grahame Applegate, Andri Thomas, Kevin Ryan, Bambang H Saharjo and Mark A Cochrane

Fire, Vol.5(3), pp.1-20

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5030062

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Abstract

climate change

greenhouse gases

haze Indonesia

IPCC Tier 3

smouldering combustion

Tropical peatlands store vast volumes of carbon belowground. Human land uses have led to their degradation, reducing their carbon storage services. Clearing and drainage make peatlands susceptible to surface and belowground fires. Satellites do not readily detect smouldering peat fires, which release globally significant quantities of aerosols and climate-influencing gases. Despite national and international desire to improve management of these fires, few published results exist for in situ tropical peat fire behaviour and associated carbon emissions. We present new field methodology for calculating rates of fire spread within degraded peat (average spread rates, vertical 0.8 cm h−1, horizontal 2.7 cm h−1) and associated peat volume losses (102 m3 ha−1 in August, 754 m3 ha−1 in September) measured at six peat fire sites in Kalimantan, Indonesia, in 2015. Utilizing locally collected bulk density and emission factors, total August and September gas emissions of 27.2 t ha−1 (8.1 tC ha−1) and 200.7 t ha−1 (60.2 tC ha−1) were estimated. We provide much needed, but currently lacking, IPCC Tier 3-level data to improve GHG estimates from tropical peat fires. We demonstrate how calculations of total emission estimates can vary greatly in magnitude (+798% to −26%) depending on environmental conditions, season, peat burn depth methodology, bulk density and emission factors data sources, and assumed versus observed combustion factors. This illustrates the importance of in situ measurements and the need for more refined methods to improve accuracies of GHG estimates from tropical peat fires.

Details

Title: A Field Study of Tropical Peat Fire Behaviour and Associated Carbon Emissions
Authors: Laura Graham (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Grahame Applegate (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Industries Research Centre
Andri Thomas (Author) - Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Kevin Ryan (Author) - US Forest Service
Bambang H Saharjo (Author) - IPB University
Mark A Cochrane (Author) - University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Publication details: Fire, Vol.5(3), pp.1-20
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2022
DOI: 10.3390/fire5030062
ISSN: 2571-6255
Copyright note: Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Industries Research Centre; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99640278302621
Output Type: Journal article