French (CMS 2011) Project Profile(updated 08-Aug-2016)
Project Title:
Development of Regional Fire Emissions Products for NASA's Carbon Monitoring System using the Wildland Fire Emissions Information System
Science Team Members:
Nancy French, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
(Project Lead)
Michael Billmire, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
Project Duration:
2012 - 2014
Solicitation:
NASA: Carbon Monitoring System
(2011)
Abstract:
Current work under the NASA-CMS Flux Pilot project includes measures of biomass
burning emissions for the quantification of carbon flux from land to the atmosphere. Fire
is recognized as an important mechanism for this exchange. Measures of biomass burning
emissions are included in this pilot project, but the estimates would greatly benefit from
further refinement, and some idea of the uncertainty in biomass burning emissions is
needed. There is a growing community of international, federal, and state-level parties
that desire and in some cases require refinements in methods to quantify emissions
from wildland and prescribed fire (biomass burning). To meet these requirements, these
parties are developing a suite of methods to address their needs. We propose to use tools
developed from collaborations with the US Forest Service and US Environmental Protection Agency, as well as recent research carried out for NASA, to refine the fire
emissions module of the CASA-GFED model currently used by CMS.
For the proposed project, to be conducted in Phase II of the CMS, we are proposing to
assist the NASA-Goddard CASA-GFED team in improving the GFED approach
currently used in the CMS Phase I Flux Pilot project. We will use the Wildland Fire
Emissions Information System (WFEIS), an approach developed under NASA s Carbon
Cycle Science program in collaboration with others in the fire emissions community, to
adjust GFED estimates over North America. WFEIS operates at a 1-km spatial grid scale,
while GFED operates at a 0.5 deg grid scale. The two approaches use the same general
construct, however they use different data sources for the model parameters and make
different assumptions when applying the general model. WFEIS uses a ground-based
method to map biomass (fuel loading) and a more direct method to estimate combustion
completeness (fuel consumption) than GFED. WFEIS was developed as a regional to
landscape-scale method, making it an appropriate tool to refine the GFED estimates of
emissions for areas where the two methods can be implemented.
The proposed activity includes: 1) improvements in quantifying mapped fuels (biomass)
for the US and combustion in deep organic soils of Alaska; 2) development of an
uncertainty measurement methodology for emissions estimation; 3) production of 1-kmscale fire emissions estimates for the US; 4) a comparison of these products to CASAGFED emissions estimates; and 5) refinements of GFED parameters based on the results
found with WFEIS. Specific outputs from this activity will provide important information
for improving our understanding of carbon emissions from wildland fire.
Product Title: Annual wildland fire emissions (WFEIS v0.5) for Conterminous US and Alaska, 2001-2013
Start Date: 01/2001End Date: 12/2013 (2001-2013)
Description: This data set contains annual modeled estimates of wildland fire emissions at 0.01 degree (~1-km) spatial resolution from the Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS v0.5) for the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) and Alaska for 2001 through 2013. WFEIS is a web-based tool that provides resources to quantify emissions from past fires and output results as spatial data files (French et al., 2014). The data set includes emissions estimates of carbon (C), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), other non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and particulate matter (PM) as well as estimates of above-ground biomass, total fuel availability, and consumption estimates.
Status: Archived
CMS Science Theme(s): Land Biomass; Land-Atmosphere Flux
Keywords: Source (; anthropogenic; terrestrial)
Spatial Extent: CONUS and Alaska
Spatial Resolution: 1 km
Temporal Frequency: Monthly
Input Data Products: Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS), Landsat, MODIS
Algorithm/Models Used: WFEIS
Evaluation: Compare with GFED v.3 & 4
Intercomparison Efforts/Gaps: Site (landscape-scale) comparisons with other fire emissions methods including GFED (French et al 2011)
Uncertainty Estimates: Developing a full uncertainty estimation plan under this grant with some aspects completed. Some part of the model will be difficult to assess, so strategies to complete a full error analysis will be developed for implementation in future versions of the model.
Uncertainty Categories: model-data and model-model comparisons
Application Areas: - Fire management; - Forest inventory; - Land management; - Air quality protection
Relevant Policies/Programs: Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS), Global Fire Data (GFED), BlueSky, CAA, NGHGI, FLPMA
Potential Users: EPA, USFS, BLM, carbon accounting researchers, state agencies that prescribe burning and/or monitor air quality
Stakeholders:
Current Application Readiness Level: 5
Start Application Readiness Level: 4
Target Application Readiness Level: 7
Future Developments: - Meet with smoke managers in every national park by the end of 2014.; - Follow up on last year's engagement with USFS Geospatial Service and Technology Center and EPA's air quality modeling group.
Limitations: - No uncertainty analysis.; - No data on small and short-lived fires.
Archived Data Citation: French, N.H.F., D. McKenzie, T. Erickson, B. Koziol, M. Billmire, K.A. Endsley, N.K.Y. Scheinerman, L. Jenkins, M.E. Miller, R. Ottmar, and S. Prichard. 2016. Annual wildland fire emissions (WFEIS v0.5) for Conterminous US and Alaska, 2001-2013. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. DOI: 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1306
Bounding Coordinates:
West Longitude:
-178.22000
East Longitude:
-65.00000
North Latitude:
71.41000
South Latitude:
24.20000
Publications:
French, N. H. F., McKenzie, D., Erickson, T., Koziol, B., Billmire, M., Endsley, K. A., Yager Scheinerman, N. K., Jenkins, L., Miller, M. E., Ottmar, R., Prichard, S. 2014. Modeling Regional-Scale Wildland Fire Emissions with the Wildland Fire Emissions Information System. Earth Interactions. 18(16), 1-26. DOI: 10.1175/EI-D-14-0002.1
van Leeuwen, T. T., van der Werf, G. R., Hoffmann, A. A., Detmers, R. G., Rucker, G., French, N. H. F., Archibald, S., Carvalho Jr., J. A., Cook, G. D., de Groot, W. J., Hely, C., Kasischke, E. S., Kloster, S., McCarty, J. L., Pettinari, M. L., Savadogo, P., Alvarado, E. C., Boschetti, L., Manuri, S., Meyer, C. P., Siegert, F., Trollope, L. A., Trollope, W. S. W. 2014. Biomass burning fuel consumption rates: a field measurement database. Biogeosciences. 11(24), 7305-7329. DOI: 10.5194/bg-11-7305-2014
McKenzie, D., French, N. H. F., Ottmar, R. D. 2012. National database for calculating fuel available to wildfires. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 93(6), 57-58. DOI: 10.1029/2012EO060002
Archived Data Citations:
French, N.H.F., D. McKenzie, T. Erickson, B. Koziol, M. Billmire, K.A. Endsley, N.K.Y. Scheinerman, L. Jenkins, M.E. Miller, R. Ottmar, and S. Prichard. 2016. Annual wildland fire emissions (WFEIS v0.5) for Conterminous US and Alaska, 2001-2013. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. DOI: 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1306
Large emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane from Alaska boreal fires during the 2000s -- (Eric S. Kasischke, Elizabeth E Hoy, Merritt R. Turetsky, Evan Kane, William J deGroot, Nancy HF French) [abstract]