The role of fire in the Earth system: understanding interactions with the land, atmosphere, and society (ESD/ACP/BG/GMD/NHESS inter-journal SI)(ESD/ACP/BG/GMD/NHESS inter-journal SI)
The role of fire in the Earth system: understanding interactions with the land, atmosphere, and society (ESD/ACP/BG/GMD/NHESS inter-journal SI)(ESD/ACP/BG/GMD/NHESS inter-journal SI)
Editor(s): GMD topic editors | Coordinator: Kirsten Thonicke Special issue jointly organized between Earth System Dynamics, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Biogeosciences, Geoscientific Model Development, and Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Fire is an essential feature of terrestrial ecosystems and plays an important role in the Earth system. Fires are regulated by climate, vegetation characteristics, and human activity and also feedback to them in multiple ways. For example, fires can shape vegetation composition and structure; adjust land carbon, nutrient, water, and energy cycles; change atmospheric composition, chemistry, and physics; and affect air quality and human health. Elevated fire activity in 2019 across the arctic, Amazon, and other regions underscores the urgency of a quantitative understanding of fire as an Earth system process that interacts with vegetation, climate, and humans. The EGU2020 B3.17 session on the role of fire in the Earth system received the most abstracts in the Biogeosciences division this year and was highly attended during the live chat. The abstracts cover several aspects of interactions between fire and the biosphere, atmosphere, and humans across various temporal and spatial scales using modelling, field and laboratory observations, and remote sensing. Given that the topic is highly interdisciplinary and overarching, we propose an inter-journal (ESD/BG/ACP/GMD/NHESS) special issue for this session with ESD as the lead journal, and we also encourage the submission of topic-related studies outside the EGU fire session. The special issue will bring together new advances in understanding the feedbacks and interactions between fire and other components of the Earth system at all temporal and spatial scales using various methods, including (1) impacts of fire on weather, climate, and atmospheric chemistry; (2) interactions between fire, the biogeochemical cycle, vegetation composition and structure, and land water and energy budgets; (3) influence of humans on fire and vice versa; (4) fire characteristics (e.g., fire duration, emission factor, emission height, smoke transport); (5) spatial and temporal changes of fires in the past, present, and future; (6) fire products and models, their validation, and error/bias assessment; and (7) analytical tools designed to enhance situational awareness among fire practitioners and early warning systems, addressing specific needs of operational fire behaviour modelling.

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06 Jun 2024
Remote sensing reveals fire-driven enhancement of a C4 invasive alien grass on a small Mediterranean volcanic island
Riccardo Guarino, Daniele Cerra, Renzo Zaia, Alessandro Chiarucci, Pietro Lo Cascio, Duccio Rocchini, Piero Zannini, and Salvatore Pasta
Biogeosciences, 21, 2717–2730, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2717-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2717-2024, 2024
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21 Feb 2024
Quantifying wildfire drivers and predictability in boreal peatlands using a two-step error-correcting machine learning framework in TeFire v1.0
Rongyun Tang, Mingzhou Jin, Jiafu Mao, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Anping Chen, and Yulong Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1525–1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1525-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1525-2024, 2024
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06 Sep 2023
Fire risk modeling: an integrated and data-driven approach applied to Sicily
Alba Marquez Torres, Giovanni Signorello, Sudeshna Kumar, Greta Adamo, Ferdinando Villa, and Stefano Balbi
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2937–2959, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2937-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2937-2023, 2023
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18 Aug 2023
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Potential bioavailability of representative pyrogenic organic matter compounds in comparison to natural dissolved organic matter pools
Emily B. Graham, Hyun-Seob Song, Samantha Grieger, Vanessa A. Garayburu-Caruso, James C. Stegen, Kevin D. Bladon, and Allison N. Myers-Pigg
Biogeosciences, 20, 3449–3457, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3449-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3449-2023, 2023
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11 Aug 2023
How the extreme 2019–2020 Australian wildfires affected global circulation and adjustments
Fabian Senf, Bernd Heinold, Anne Kubin, Jason Müller, Roland Schrödner, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8939–8958, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8939-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8939-2023, 2023
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24 Jul 2023
Estimating the effects of meteorology and land cover on fire growth in Peru using a novel difference equation model
Harry Podschwit, William Jolly, Ernesto Alvarado, Andrea Markos, Satyam Verma, Sebastian Barreto-Rivera, Catherine Tobón-Cruz, and Blanca Ponce-Vigo
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2607–2624, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2607-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2607-2023, 2023
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14 Jul 2023
Burned area and carbon emissions across northwestern boreal North America from 2001–2019
Stefano Potter, Sol Cooperdock, Sander Veraverbeke, Xanthe Walker, Michelle C. Mack, Scott J. Goetz, Jennifer Baltzer, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Arden Burrell, Catherine Dieleman, Nancy French, Stijn Hantson, Elizabeth E. Hoy, Liza Jenkins, Jill F. Johnstone, Evan S. Kane, Susan M. Natali, James T. Randerson, Merritt R. Turetsky, Ellen Whitman, Elizabeth Wiggins, and Brendan M. Rogers
Biogeosciences, 20, 2785–2804, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2785-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2785-2023, 2023
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31 May 2023
Constraining emissions of volatile organic compounds from western US wildfires with WE-CAN and FIREX-AQ airborne observations
Lixu Jin, Wade Permar, Vanessa Selimovic, Damien Ketcherside, Robert J. Yokelson, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, I-Ting Ku, Jeffrey L. Collett Jr., Amy P. Sullivan, Daniel A. Jaffe, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Alan Fried, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Carsten Warneke, Emily V. Fischer, and Lu Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5969–5991, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023, 2023
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18 Apr 2023
Carbon emissions and radiative forcings from tundra wildfires in the Yukon–Kuskokwim River Delta, Alaska
Michael Moubarak, Seeta Sistla, Stefano Potter, Susan M. Natali, and Brendan M. Rogers
Biogeosciences, 20, 1537–1557, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1537-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1537-2023, 2023
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14 Apr 2023
Ground solar absorption observations of total column CO, CO2, CH4, and aerosol optical depth from California's Sequoia Lightning Complex Fire: emission factors and modified combustion efficiency at regional scales
Isis Frausto-Vicencio, Sajjan Heerah, Aaron G. Meyer, Harrison A. Parker, Manvendra Dubey, and Francesca M. Hopkins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4521–4543, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4521-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4521-2023, 2023
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09 Mar 2023
Impacts of estimated plume rise on PM2.5 exceedance prediction during extreme wildfire events: a comparison of three schemes (Briggs, Freitas, and Sofiev)
Yunyao Li, Daniel Tong, Siqi Ma, Saulo R. Freitas, Ravan Ahmadov, Mikhail Sofiev, Xiaoyang Zhang, Shobha Kondragunta, Ralph Kahn, Youhua Tang, Barry Baker, Patrick Campbell, Rick Saylor, Georg Grell, and Fangjun Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3083–3101, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3083-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3083-2023, 2023
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03 Mar 2023
Self-lofting of wildfire smoke in the troposphere and stratosphere: simulations and space lidar observations
Kevin Ohneiser, Albert Ansmann, Jonas Witthuhn, Hartwig Deneke, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Gregor Walter, and Fabian Senf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2901–2925, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2901-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2901-2023, 2023
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01 Feb 2023
Characterizing the rate of spread of large wildfires in emerging fire environments of northwestern Europe using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite active fire data
Adrián Cardíl, Victor M. Tapia, Santiago Monedero, Tomás Quiñones, Kerryn Little, Cathelijne R. Stoof, Joaquín Ramirez, and Sergio de-Miguel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 361–373, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-361-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-361-2023, 2023
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01 Feb 2023
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Projected increases in wildfires may challenge regulatory curtailment of PM2.5 over the eastern US by 2050
Chandan Sarangi, Yun Qian, L. Ruby Leung, Yang Zhang, Yufei Zou, and Yuhang Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1769–1783, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1769-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1769-2023, 2023
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20 Dec 2022
Statistical modelling of air quality impacts from individual forest fires in New South Wales, Australia
Michael A. Storey and Owen F. Price
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4039–4062, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4039-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4039-2022, 2022
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09 Aug 2022
Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies
Robert J. Yokelson, Bambang H. Saharjo, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Erianto I. Putra, Thilina Jayarathne, Acep Akbar, Israr Albar, Donald R. Blake, Laura L. B. Graham, Agus Kurniawan, Simone Meinardi, Diah Ningrum, Ati D. Nurhayati, Asmadi Saad, Niken Sakuntaladewi, Eko Setianto, Isobel J. Simpson, Elizabeth A. Stone, Sigit Sutikno, Andri Thomas, Kevin C. Ryan, and Mark A. Cochrane
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10173–10194, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10173-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10173-2022, 2022
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04 Aug 2022
Important role of stratospheric injection height for the distribution and radiative forcing of smoke aerosol from the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires
Bernd Heinold, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Matthew Christensen, Anne Kubin, Kevin Ohneiser, Kerstin Schepanski, Nick Schutgens, Fabian Senf, Roland Schrödner, Diego Villanueva, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9969–9985, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022, 2022
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20 Jul 2022
Radiative impacts of the Australian bushfires 2019–2020 – Part 1: Large-scale radiative forcing
Pasquale Sellitto, Redha Belhadji, Corinna Kloss, and Bernard Legras
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9299–9311, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9299-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9299-2022, 2022
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13 May 2022
Climatic variation drives loss and restructuring of carbon and nitrogen in boreal forest wildfire
Johan A. Eckdahl, Jeppe A. Kristensen, and Daniel B. Metcalfe
Biogeosciences, 19, 2487–2506, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2487-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2487-2022, 2022
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13 Apr 2022
Forecasting the regional fire radiative power for regularly ignited vegetation fires
Tero M. Partanen and Mikhail Sofiev
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1335–1346, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1335-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1335-2022, 2022
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15 Mar 2022
Interpreting machine learning prediction of fire emissions and comparison with FireMIP process-based models
Sally S.-C. Wang, Yun Qian, L. Ruby Leung, and Yang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3445–3468, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3445-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3445-2022, 2022
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03 Mar 2022
Stable carbon isotopic composition of biomass burning emissions – implications for estimating the contribution of C3 and C4 plants
Roland Vernooij, Ulrike Dusek, Maria Elena Popa, Peng Yao, Anupam Shaikat, Chenxi Qiu, Patrik Winiger, Carina van der Veen, Thomas Callum Eames, Natasha Ribeiro, and Guido R. van der Werf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022
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20 Dec 2021
Modeling the short-term fire effects on vegetation dynamics and surface energy in southern Africa using the improved SSiB4/TRIFFID-Fire model
Huilin Huang, Yongkang Xue, Ye Liu, Fang Li, and Gregory S. Okin
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7639–7657, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7639-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7639-2021, 2021
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02 Dec 2021
Lightning-ignited wildfires and long continuing current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: preferential meteorological conditions
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Heidi Huntrieser, Sergio Soler, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Nicolau Pineda, Javier Navarro-González, Víctor Reglero, Joan Montanyà, Oscar van der Velde, and Nikos Koutsias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17529–17557, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17529-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17529-2021, 2021
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01 Dec 2021
Methane gas emissions from savanna fires: what analysis of local burning regimes in a working West African landscape tell us
Paul Laris, Moussa Koné, Fadiala Dembélé, Christine M. Rodrigue, Lilian Yang, Rebecca Jacobs, and Quincy Laris
Biogeosciences, 18, 6229–6244, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6229-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6229-2021, 2021
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29 Oct 2021
Comparing an exponential respiration model to alternative models for soil respiration components in a Canadian wildfire chronosequence (FireResp v1.0)
John Zobitz, Heidi Aaltonen, Xuan Zhou, Frank Berninger, Jukka Pumpanen, and Kajar Köster
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 6605–6622, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-6605-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-6605-2021, 2021
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28 Oct 2021
Coupling interactive fire with atmospheric composition and climate in the UK Earth System Model
João C. Teixeira, Gerd A. Folberth, Fiona M. O'Connor, Nadine Unger, and Apostolos Voulgarakis
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 6515–6539, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-6515-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-6515-2021, 2021
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22 Sep 2021
Impact of large wildfires on PM10 levels and human mortality in Portugal
Patricia Tarín-Carrasco, Sofia Augusto, Laura Palacios-Peña, Nuno Ratola, and Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2867–2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2867-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2867-2021, 2021
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16 Aug 2021
Measurement report: Saccharide composition in atmospheric fine particulate matter during spring at the remote sites of southwest China and estimates of source contributions
Zhenzhen Wang, Di Wu, Zhuoyu Li, Xiaona Shang, Qing Li, Xiang Li, Renjie Chen, Haidong Kan, Huiling Ouyang, Xu Tang, and Jianmin Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12227–12241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12227-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12227-2021, 2021
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14 Jul 2021
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of south-western Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sediment charcoal record
Ramesh Glückler, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Stuart Andrew Vyse, Bettina Winkler, Boris K. Biskaborn, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
Biogeosciences, 18, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, 2021
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29 Jun 2021
The importance of antecedent vegetation and drought conditions as global drivers of burnt area
Alexander Kuhn-Régnier, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Peer Nowack, Matthias Forkel, I. Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison
Biogeosciences, 18, 3861–3879, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3861-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3861-2021, 2021
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28 Jun 2021
Experimental production of charcoal morphologies to discriminate fuel source and fire type: an example from Siberian taiga
Angelica Feurdean
Biogeosciences, 18, 3805–3821, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3805-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3805-2021, 2021
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28 May 2021
Carbonaceous aerosol composition in air masses influenced by large-scale biomass burning: a case study in northwestern Vietnam
Dac-Loc Nguyen, Hendryk Czech, Simone M. Pieber, Jürgen Schnelle-Kreis, Martin Steinbacher, Jürgen Orasche, Stephan Henne, Olga B. Popovicheva, Gülcin Abbaszade, Guenter Engling, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Nhat-Anh Nguyen, Xuan-Anh Nguyen, and Ralf Zimmermann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8293–8312, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8293-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8293-2021, 2021
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