Relationship between Biomass Burning Emissions and Deforestation in Amazonia over the Last Two Decades

Author(s):Show less -

Mataveli, Guilherme A. V. ^[1] ; de Oliveira, Gabriel ^[2] ; Seixas, Hugo T. ^[3] ; Pereira, Gabriel ^{[4, 5]} ; Stark, Scott C. ^[6] ; Gatti, Luciana V. ^[7] ; Basso, Luana S. ^[7] ; Tejada, Graciela ^[7] ; Cassol, Henrique L. G. ^[1] ; Anderson, Liana O. ^[8] ; Aragao, Luiz E. O. C. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Natl Inst Space Res, Earth Observat & Geoinformat Div, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos - Brazil

^[2] Univ S Alabama, Dept Earth Sci, Mobile, AL 36688 - USA

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Ctr Environm Studies & Res, BR-13083867 Campinas - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Geog, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Univ Fed Sao Joao del Rei, Dept Geosci, BR-36307352 Sao Joao Del Rei - Brazil

^[6] Michigan State Univ, Dept Forestry, E Lansing, MI 48824 - USA

^[7] Natl Inst Space Res, Impacts Adaptat & Vulnerabil Div, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos - Brazil

^[8] Natl Ctr Monitoring & Early Warning Nat Disaster, BR-12247016 Sao Jose Dos Campos - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: FORESTS; v. 12, n. 9 SEP 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

With deforestation and associated fires ongoing at high rates, and amidst urgent need to preserve Amazonia, improving the understanding of biomass burning emissions drivers is essential. The use of orbital remote sensing data enables the estimate of both biomass burning emissions and deforestation. In this study, we have estimated emissions of particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 mu m (PM2.5) associated with biomass burning, a primary human health risk, using the Brazilian Biomass Burning emission model with Fire Radiative Power (3BEM\_FRP), and estimated deforestation based on the MapBiomas dataset. Using these estimates, we have assessed for the first time how deforestation drove biomass burning emissions in Amazonia over the last two decades at three scales of analysis: Amazonia-wide, country/state and pixel. Amazonia accounted for 48% of PM2.5 emitted from biomass burning in South America and current deforestation rates have reached values on par with those of the early 21st Century. Emissions and deforestation were concentrated in the Eastern and Central-Southern portions of Amazonia. Amazonia-wide deforestation and emissions were linked through time (R = 0.65). Countries/states with the widest spread agriculture were less likely to be correlated at this scale, likely because of the importance of biomass burning in agricultural practices. Concentrated in regions of ongoing deforestation, in 18% of Amazonia grid cells PM2.5 emissions associated with biomass burning and deforestation were significantly positively correlated. Deforestation is an important driver of emissions in Amazonia but does not explain biomass burning alone. Therefore, future work must link climate and other non-deforestation drivers to completely understand biomass burning emissions in Amazonia. The advance of anthropogenic activities over forested areas, which ultimately leads to more fires and deforestation, is expected to continue, worsening a crisis of dangerous emissions. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 20/02656-4 - Net carbon exchanges in the Amazon conciliating satellite data, ground data, and atmospheric profile in a decade of observation using bottom-up approach
• Grantee: Henrique Luis Godinho Cassol
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 18/14006-4 - Estimation of Amazon Greenhouse Gas balances from atmospheric concentrations using inverse modelling of atmospheric transport
• Grantee: Luana Santamaria Basso
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 16/02018-2 - Interannual variation of Amazon Basin greenhouse gas balances and their controls in a warming and increasingly variable climate – Carbam: the Amazon carbon balance long-term study
• Grantee: Luciana Vanni Gatti
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/18493-7 - Correlation between greenhouse gases, natural processes and land use in the Amazon Basin region
• Grantee: Graciela Tejada Pinell
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 20/08916-8 - Prediction of forest degradation as a subsidy for mitigating actions to preventing fires and wildfires
• Grantee: Liana Oighenstein Anderson
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 19/25701-8 - The influence of land use and land cover on fine particulate matter (PM2.5µm) emissions from fire in Amazonia and Cerrado biomes integrating modelling and remote sensing
• Grantee: Guilherme Augusto Verola Mataveli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 18/14423-4 - Modeling a decade of carbon gross emissions from forest fires in the Amazon: Conciliating the bottom-up and top-down views of the problem
• Grantee: Henrique Luis Godinho Cassol
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 19/23654-2 - Estimation of Amazon greenhouse gas balances from atmospheric concentrations using inverse modelling of atmospheric transport with TOMCAT model
• Grantee: Luana Santamaria Basso
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor