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Fire Research » Fire & Climate Change » National & International Activities
The Russian FIRE BEAR Project
Estimating and Monitoring Effects of Area Burned and Fire Severity on
Carbon Cycling, Emissions, and Forest Health and Sustainability in Central
Siberia
Introduction
Boreal forests are important globally as major carbon reservoirs,
as relatively undisturbed natural ecosystems, and as sources of
wood fiber and other forest products. Changes in land use, cover,
and disturbance patterns in boreal forests can affect fire regimes
and forest health, global carbon budgets, atmospheric chemistry,
wood supply, and sustainability of local subsistence economies.
Wildfire is a key disturbance process in these systems, and fire
affects about 12 million to 15 million ha of closed boreal forest
annually, most of it in Eurasia. This exceeds the annual area harvested
or disturbed by any other natural agents, such as insects.
The Russian boreal forest contains about 25% of the global terrestrial
biomass, yet data on the extent and impacts of fire in these forests
are scarce and often contradictory. Several recent studies indicate
that the impacts on terrestrial carbon storage of fires in boreal
forest regions have been vastly underestimated. Furthermore, changes
in land management and land-use practices, regional climate, and
fire-suppression capability will affect fire risk and ecosystem
damage from fires in ways that are poorly understood. In changing
environments, fire can be a key agent to accelerate changes toward
new ecosystem conditions. Improved understanding of the landscape
extent and severity of fires and of factors affecting fire behavior,
and the effects of fire on carbon storage, air chemistry, vegetation
dynamics and structure, and forest health and productivity is needed
before such considerations can be adequately addressed in regional
planning. |
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A preburn picture of plot 14 at the Yartsevo
site shows a typical dry scotch pine forest with lichen and feather
moss covering the forest floor. The lack of ladder fuels on such
sites prevents crown fires except under extreme conditions. |
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A postburn picture of Plot 14 viewed from the
same point as in the preburn picture. This is an example of the
effects of a high-intensity surface fire. Most of the fuel consumption
on such sites occurs when the forest floor burns. |
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This large fire whirlwind visually
indicates the high-intensity fire that develops under more severe
burning conditions. Even under these conditions of high fire danger,
only a surface fire was able to develop. However, the fire intensity
was sufficient to cause complete mortality to all the overstory
trees. |
To monitor effects on a landscape scale and to provide inputs into global
and regional models of carbon cycling and atmospheric chemistry requires
development of validated remote-sensing-based approaches to measurement
of fire areas and fire severities.
The Russian FIRE BEAR (Fire Effects in the Boreal Eurasia Region) Project
is a research study in central Siberia designed to provide answers to
these basic questions on the management of fuels, fire, and fire regimes
to enhance carbon storage and forest sustainability in ways that minimize
the negative impacts of fire on the global environment, wood production,
and ecosystem health.
Research Objectives
(1) To use experimental fires of various intensities to measure fire
behavior and the effects of fire severity on combustion, emissions, and
ecosystem impacts for estimating the effects of fire regimes on carbon
balance, greenhouse gas releases, and forest health and productivity.
(2) To refine and test methods for remote-sensing-based estimates of fire
areas and fire severity for the forests of central Siberia, by combining
ground sampling of burned areas with medium-resolution (15- to 120-m)
and 1-km resolution satellite data.
(3) To combine process data and models developed through experimental
fires with remote sensing data to produce validated regional estimates
of fire areas, fire severity, and the impact of fire on carbon balance,
emissions, and forest health.
(4) To provide information and tools useful for fire management decision
making and for evaluating possible future uses of prescribed fire.
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On-ground emission measurements, coupled with aerial sampling,
are important in monitoring the type and amounts of chemicals found
in the smoke and determining the effects of fire on air quality
and climate change. |
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Aerial infrared technology is used to monitor and document
fire behavior through dense smoke. Similar measurements on wildfires
provide valuable verification for interpretation of satellite images. |
Study Area
During 1998 and 1999, two research sites for the study were located in
the Krasnoyarsk Region of central Siberia. The Yartsevo site west of the
Yenisey River represents a scotch pine–lichen–feather moss
forest type, and the Boguchany site east of the Yenisey River represents
a scotch pine–feather moss forest type with a shrub-rich understory.
Replicated experimental plots of about 4 ha were installed on both sites,
and baseline data were collected on vegetation, fuels, soils, and other
ecosystem characteristics. The experimental plots will be burned over
several years to ensure a range of fire behavior and burning conditions.
On-site environmental data, construction of protective fire lines, and
collaboration between fire crews of the Federal Forest Service of Russia
and prescribed fire experts from North America help to ensure that the
fires are safely maintained inside the plots. The experimental plots are
burned using line ignition along the windward side to quickly create equilibrium
fire behavior that mimics wildfires under similar burning conditions.
The first two plots were burned at the Yartsevo site in July 2000, and
an additional five plots were burned in 2001. Preliminary models have
been developed to predict fire behavior characteristics, fuel consumption,
and carbon release. Experimental burning continued in 2002. As well, multiscale
sampling began on selected wildfires in 2002, which will help to test
and improve on current remote sensing approaches based on Advanced Very
High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) data for estimating the spatial extent of fires, and to develop
and validate methods for estimating spatial patterns of burn severity.
For more information, contact:
| D.J. (Doug) McRae |
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Canadian Forest Service
Great Lakes Forestry Centre
1219 Queen Street East
Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5 |
Phone: (705) 541-5539
Fax: (705) 541-5701
e-mail: DMcRae@NRCan.gc.ca
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S.G. (Susan) Conard |
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USDA Forest Service
Sidney Yates Federal Building (1CEN)
201 14th Street SW
Washington DC
United States 20250-1561 |
Phone: (703) 605-5255
Fax: (703) 605-5133
e-mail : sconard/wo@fs.fed.us
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G.A. (Galina) Ivanova |
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Sukachev Institute of Forest Research
Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036
Russia |
Phone: 7-3912-49-4462
e-mail : ifor@krsk.infotel.ru
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