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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 9, NUMBER 5, MAY 1996

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
BIOMASS BURNING

Item #d96may14

"Detection of Biomass Burning Smoke from TOMS Measurements," N.C. Hsu (Hughes STX, 7701 Greenbelt Rd. (#400), Greenbelt MD 20770), J.R. Herman et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 23(7), 745-748, Apr. 1, 1996.

Demonstrates the ability of the TOMS instrument to detect and track smoke and soot aerosols generated by biomass burning in South America, using a 14.5-year gridded data set of tropospheric absorbing aerosol index derived from the Nimbus-7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer. TOMS data can distinguish between absorbing particles (smoke and dust) and non-absorbing particles (clouds and haze).

Item #d96may15

"Fluxes of Nitric Oxide from Soils Following the Clearing and Burning of a Secondary Tropical Rain Forest," J.C. Neff (Atmos. Chem. Div., NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), M. Keller et al., J. Geophys. Res., 100(D12), 25,913-25,922, Dec. 20, 1995.

At sites in the Atlantic Lowlands of Costa Rica, clearing and burning of a secondary tropical rainforest caused a significant increase in soil NO release, which peaked for 1-3 days following burning, and remained elevated for 3-4 months. A number of experiments on soil cores reveal some of the relevant processes.

Item #d96may16

"Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Tropical Biomass Burning," W.M. Hao (Intermountain Fire Sci. Lab., USDA Forest Serv., POB 8089, Missoula MT 59807), M.-H. Liu, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 8(4), 495-503, Dec. 1994.

Presents a database for the temporal and spatial distribution of the amount of biomass burned in tropical America, Africa, and Asia during the late 1970s, at a 5° latitude-longitude resolution. The contributions to total biomass burned are: savanna fires (50%), shifting cultivation (24%), deforestation (10%), fuel wood use (11%), and burning of agricultural residues (5%). Land use changes during the last decade could have a profound impact on the amount of biomass burned and the amount of trace gases and aerosol particles emitted.