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Biomass Burning, Land-Cover Change, and the Hydrological Cycle in Northern Sub-Saharan AfricaThe 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 (greater than 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 deg-10 deg latitude),where this anti-correlation occurs exclusively in the dry season and burning virtually stops when monthly mean precipitation reaches 4 mm/d. 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.
Document ID
20160012258
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Ichoku, Charles
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Ellison, Luke T.
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Willmot, K. Elena
(Vanderbilt Univ. Nashville, TN, United States)
Matsui, Toshihisa
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Dezfuli, Amin K.
(Universities Space Research Association Columbia, MD, United States)
Gatebe, Charles K.
(Universities Space Research Association Columbia, MD, United States)
Wang, Jun
(Nebraska Univ. Lincoln, NE, United States)
Wilcox, Eric M.
(Desert Research Inst. Reno, NV, United States)
Lee, Jejung
(Missouri Univ. Kansas City, MO, United States)
Adegoke, Jimmy
(Missouri Univ. Kansas City, MO, United States)
Okonkwo, Churchill
(Howard Univ. Washington, DC, United States)
Bolten, John
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Policelli, Frederick S.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Habib, Shahid
(NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Date Acquired
October 11, 2016
Publication Date
September 14, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Environmental Research Letters
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Volume: 11
Issue: 9
e-ISSN: 1748-9326
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN35875
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG12HP08C
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11HP16A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNH15CO48B
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX12AD03A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
biomass burning
northern sub-Saharan Africa
hydrological cycle

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