[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: CO2 emissions from forest fires



John Andrews wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: AndrewsJP@AOL.COM [mailto:AndrewsJP@AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2001 2:28 PM
To: prestwic@MCMAIL.CIS.MCMASTER.CA; ograabe@UCDAVIS.EDU
Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: ots of responses, one email, easy deleting, low in calories

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
jim.dukelow@pnl.gov
 
These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.