June 2024

2nd largest emitter of co2
% "in 2023, it released 7,330 mn tonnes of co2 globally" - EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Canada, home to 9% of world's forests, reported significant fires in British Columbia and Alberta provinces, early this year.
Calculating wildfire emission is complex because it is influenced by temperature, wind, humidity and drought.
Rising frequency and intensity do not give forests enough time to regrow and absorb the emissions.
Traditionally, 80% of released carbon is absorbed by new vegetation if proper time is provided.
Climate change creates a feedback cycle:
- Hot temperature leads to extreme weather events and droughts
- this worsens the wildfires and injects more co2 into the atmosphere

Four things to compute wildfire emissions:

Extent of burned area
Biomass density or vegetation in the burned area
Emission factor - Mass pollutant produced per unit dry mass of fuel(vegetation) burned
Combustion factor of the fires, which tells how much coal charcoal is left after the wood is burned

Methodology to measure the wildfire

Countries like India uses the IPCC guidelines to ascertain wildfire emissions.
Europe uses Global fire assimilation system (GFAS) developed by CAMS
A widely used tool to measure fires is MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER (MODIS)
- an instrument on 2 LEO satellites Terra and Aqua
- this scans the earth's surface once every day or two
- this satellite cross tropical india at about 10am and 1pm everyday
we do not know about the fires outside this focus time
best option is to use Geo Stationary satellites, as they can record images at brief intervals.
one downside is the resolution of the image will suffer, as it is captured some 36,000 km from the earth's surface.
Land burned in Africa in 2016 using 2 different satellite
1. ESA's Sentinel - 2 = 4.89mn sq kms ie. 16% of total continent's land mass
2. MODIS = 2.72mn sq km the difference of 87% was attributed to small fires

August 2024

Pantanal - Burning since the start of the year

• Regional authorities in Brazil declared a state of emergency as the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, faces out of control fires. Since the start of the year, wildfires have burned over 7,000 square miles, an area the size of New Jersey, in Brazil’s share of the Pantanal. • The surge of fires before the peak of the dry season has raised alarm for the Pantanal, which extends into Bolivia and Paraguay and is home to a rich array of wildlife, including the world's highest density of jaguars. Key facts about Pantanal: • The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland - (sprawl over 68,000 square miles) • At 42 million acres, the Pantanal sprawls across three countries - Brazil (80 percent lies within Brazil), Bolivia and Paraguay. • The Pantanal wetlands in central western Brazil are home to a wide variety of animals, including jaguars, anacondas and giant anteaters. • It is one of the most biologically rich environments in the world, giving a home to more than 4,700 animal and plant species, including South America's highest concentration of the jaguar. •Around 95 per cent of the Pantanal is under private ownership. The wetlands, parts of which are on UNESCO’s list of heritage sites because of their rich biodiversity, are home to the world’s biggest parrot, the highest concentration of caimans and threatened wildlife like the giant otter. ![obsidian|450][IMG_20240628_114402_423.jpg]

NYT - The World’s Largest Wetland Is Burning, and Rare Animals Are Dying

Canada’s Wildfires Were a Top Global Emitter Last Year

Study published in the journal, "Nature".

Burned around 15 million hectares, an area almost the size of Florida, more than seven times the historical average.

Canada has been warming at about twice the global rate, and last summer’s extreme temperatures were behind much of the exceptional weather patterns that fueled fires.

The boreal forests have historically helped to slow climate change by storing carbon as trees grow rather than adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

@ Forests absorb about a quarter of global carbon emissions.

The wildfires that ravaged Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 produced more planet-warming carbon emissions than the burning of fossil fuels in all but three countries, China, United States of America and India. NYT