CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 15;10(1):214. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08237-z.
The biophysical feedbacks of forest fire on Earth's surface radiative budget remain uncertain at the global scale. Using satellite observations, we show that fire-induced forest loss accounts for about 15% of global forest loss, mostly in northern high latitudes. Forest fire increases surface temperature by 0.15 K (0.12 to 0.19 K) one year following fire in burned area globally. In high-latitudes, the initial positive climate-fire feedback was mainly attributed to reduced evapotranspiration and sustained for approximately 5 years. Over longer-term (> 5 years), increases in albedo dominated the surface radiative budget resulting in a net cooling effect. In tropical regions, fire had a long-term weaker warming effect mainly due to reduced evaporative cooling. Globally, biophysical feedbacks of fire-induced surface warming one year after fire are equivalent to 62% of warming due to annual fire-related CO emissions. Our results suggest that changes in the severity and/or frequency of fire disturbance may have strong impacts on Earth's surface radiative budget and climate, especially at high latitudes.
森林火灾对地球表面辐射收支的生物物理反馈在全球范围内仍然不确定。利用卫星观测，我们表明，火灾导致的森林损失约占全球森林损失的 15%，主要发生在高纬度的北方。火灾后一年，火灾发生地区的全球表面温度升高了 0.15°C（0.12°C 至 0.19°C）。在高纬度地区，最初的正向气候-火灾反馈主要归因于蒸散减少，并持续了大约 5 年。在较长时间（>5 年）内，反照率的增加主导了地表辐射收支，导致净冷却效应。在热带地区，火灾的长期变暖效应较弱，主要是由于蒸发冷却减少。全球范围内，火灾引起的地表变暖的生物物理反馈在火灾发生后一年相当于因每年与火灾相关的 CO 排放而导致的变暖的 62%。我们的研究结果表明，火灾干扰的严重程度和/或频率的变化可能对地球表面辐射收支和气候产生强烈影响，尤其是在高纬度地区。
