CO2 produced from burning biomass, such as
forest fires, does not add to the inventory of CO2 in the current cycle.
Burning coal or oil or natural gas (from wells, not from landfills)
however, adds ancient carbon to the system, thus raising the burden in the
atmosphere and oceans. So, we don't have to worry about global warming from
forest fires, strange as that may seem.
John Andrews
Knoxville,
Tennessee
=======================
I'm not persuaded,
because the carbon cycle is a dynamic system and changing the residence time
of carbon in forest biomass from several hundred years to a smaller number
because of increased fires could be expected to have an impact on atmospheric
levels of carbon dioxide. Andrews argument is persuasive with respect to
savannah burning and agricultural waste burning, but not with respect to
forest fires, if the frequency of forest fires is increasing (well, actually,
if the rate of carbon release from forest fires is
increasing).
In addition, we
have to worry about positive feedbacks from forest fires. Forest fires
change albedo and reduce the amount of moisture returned to the air by plant
transpiration. Global warming is predicted to both increase temperatures
and reduce soil moisture in many parts of the world. These can be
expected to increase forest fires, which because of the positive feedbacks
will ....
Best
regards.
Jim
Dukelow
These comments are
mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my management or by the
U.S. Department of Energy.