Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa
The Northern Sub-Saharan African (NSSA) region, which accounts for 20%–25% of the global carbon emissions from biomass burning, also suffers from frequent drought episodes and other disruptions to the hydrological cycle whose adverse societal impacts have been widely reported during the last several...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2016-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095005 |
| _version_ | 1797748503099736064 |
|---|---|
| author | Charles Ichoku Luke T Ellison K Elena Willmot Toshihisa Matsui Amin K Dezfuli Charles K Gatebe Jun Wang Eric M Wilcox Jejung Lee Jimmy Adegoke Churchill Okonkwo John Bolten Frederick S Policelli Shahid Habib |
| author_facet | Charles Ichoku Luke T Ellison K Elena Willmot Toshihisa Matsui Amin K Dezfuli Charles K Gatebe Jun Wang Eric M Wilcox Jejung Lee Jimmy Adegoke Churchill Okonkwo John Bolten Frederick S Policelli Shahid Habib |
| author_sort | Charles Ichoku |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Northern Sub-Saharan African (NSSA) region, which accounts for 20%–25% of the global carbon emissions from biomass burning, also suffers from frequent drought episodes and other disruptions to the hydrological cycle whose adverse societal impacts have been widely reported during the last several decades. This paper presents a conceptual framework of the NSSA regional climate system components that may be linked to biomass burning, as well as detailed analyses of a variety of satellite data for 2001–2014 in conjunction with relevant model-assimilated variables. Satellite fire detections in NSSA show that the vast majority (>75%) occurs in the savanna and woody savanna land-cover types. Starting in the 2006–2007 burning season through the end of the analyzed data in 2014, peak burning activity showed a net decrease of 2–7%/yr in different parts of NSSA, especially in the savanna regions. However, fire distribution shows appreciable coincidence with land-cover change. Although there is variable mutual exchange of different land cover types, during 2003–2013, cropland increased at an estimated rate of 0.28%/yr of the total NSSA land area, with most of it (0.18%/yr) coming from savanna. During the last decade, conversion to croplands increased in some areas classified as forests and wetlands, posing a threat to these vital and vulnerable ecosystems. Seasonal peak burning is anti-correlated with annual water-cycle indicators such as precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation greenness, and evapotranspiration, except in humid West Africa (5°–10° latitude), where this anti-correlation occurs exclusively in the dry season and burning virtually stops when monthly mean precipitation reaches 4 mm d ^−1 . These results provide observational evidence of changes in land-cover and hydrological variables that are consistent with feedbacks from biomass burning in NSSA, and encourage more synergistic modeling and observational studies that can elaborate this feedback mechanism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:06:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-93ae903733d2492abf55f83f3f76acdc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:06:43Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-93ae903733d2492abf55f83f3f76acdc2023-08-09T14:21:21ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262016-01-0111909500510.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095005Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan AfricaCharles Ichoku0Luke T Ellison1K Elena Willmot2Toshihisa Matsui3Amin K Dezfuli4Charles K Gatebe5Jun Wang6Eric M Wilcox7Jejung Lee8Jimmy Adegoke9Churchill Okonkwo10John Bolten11Frederick S Policelli12Shahid Habib13Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Science Systems and Applications Inc., Lanham, MD, USAVanderbilt University , Nashville, TN, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), University of Maryland , College Park, MD, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Universities Space Research Association (USRA) , Columbia, MD, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Universities Space Research Association (USRA) , Columbia, MD, USADepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska , Lincoln, NE, USA; Current address: Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, and Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa, USA.Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USAUniversity of Missouri , Kansas City, MO, USAUniversity of Missouri , Kansas City, MO, USABeltsville Center for Climate System Observation, Howard University , Washington, DC, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAEarth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAThe Northern Sub-Saharan African (NSSA) region, which accounts for 20%–25% of the global carbon emissions from biomass burning, also suffers from frequent drought episodes and other disruptions to the hydrological cycle whose adverse societal impacts have been widely reported during the last several decades. This paper presents a conceptual framework of the NSSA regional climate system components that may be linked to biomass burning, as well as detailed analyses of a variety of satellite data for 2001–2014 in conjunction with relevant model-assimilated variables. Satellite fire detections in NSSA show that the vast majority (>75%) occurs in the savanna and woody savanna land-cover types. Starting in the 2006–2007 burning season through the end of the analyzed data in 2014, peak burning activity showed a net decrease of 2–7%/yr in different parts of NSSA, especially in the savanna regions. However, fire distribution shows appreciable coincidence with land-cover change. Although there is variable mutual exchange of different land cover types, during 2003–2013, cropland increased at an estimated rate of 0.28%/yr of the total NSSA land area, with most of it (0.18%/yr) coming from savanna. During the last decade, conversion to croplands increased in some areas classified as forests and wetlands, posing a threat to these vital and vulnerable ecosystems. Seasonal peak burning is anti-correlated with annual water-cycle indicators such as precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation greenness, and evapotranspiration, except in humid West Africa (5°–10° latitude), where this anti-correlation occurs exclusively in the dry season and burning virtually stops when monthly mean precipitation reaches 4 mm d ^−1 . These results provide observational evidence of changes in land-cover and hydrological variables that are consistent with feedbacks from biomass burning in NSSA, and encourage more synergistic modeling and observational studies that can elaborate this feedback mechanism.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095005sub-Saharan Africabiomass burningwater cycleland cover changeprecipitationfire |
| spellingShingle | Charles Ichoku Luke T Ellison K Elena Willmot Toshihisa Matsui Amin K Dezfuli Charles K Gatebe Jun Wang Eric M Wilcox Jejung Lee Jimmy Adegoke Churchill Okonkwo John Bolten Frederick S Policelli Shahid Habib Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa Environmental Research Letters sub-Saharan Africa biomass burning water cycle land cover change precipitation fire |
| title | Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | Biomass burning, land-cover change, and the hydrological cycle in Northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | biomass burning land cover change and the hydrological cycle in northern sub saharan africa |
| topic | sub-Saharan Africa biomass burning water cycle land cover change precipitation fire |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095005 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT charlesichoku biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT luketellison biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT kelenawillmot biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT toshihisamatsui biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT aminkdezfuli biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT charleskgatebe biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT junwang biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT ericmwilcox biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT jejunglee biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT jimmyadegoke biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT churchillokonkwo biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT johnbolten biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT frederickspolicelli biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica AT shahidhabib biomassburninglandcoverchangeandthehydrologicalcycleinnorthernsubsaharanafrica |