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Climate and Fuel Controls on North American Paleofires: Smoldering to Flaming in the Late-Glacial-Holocene TransitionSmoldering and flaming fires, which emit different proportions of organic (OC) and black carbon (BC, in the form of char and soot), have long been recognized in modern wildfire observations but never in a paleo-record, and little is known about their interactions with climate. Here we show that in the late glacial-early Holocene transition period, when the climate was moist, relatively high quantities of char were deposited in Linsley Pond, Connecticut, USA while soot was more abundant during the warmer and drier early Holocene interval. The highest soot mass accumulation rates (MARs) occurred at the beginning of the Holocene as fuel availability increased through the climatic transition when boreal forests were locally extirpated. These variations with time are related to the different formation pathways of char and soot, which are governed by combustion efficiency. This study provides an approach for differentiating smoldering from flaming combustion in paleo-wildfire reconstructions. Our results suggest that climate and fuel loads control the occurrence of different wildfire types and precipitation may play a key role.
Document ID
20170005252
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Han, Y. M.
(Academia Sinica China)
Peteet, D. M.
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY, United States)
Arimoto, R.
(Academia Sinica China)
Cao, J. J.
(Academia Sinica China)
An, Z. S.
(Academia Sinica China)
Sritrairat, S.
(Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, NY, United States)
Yan, B. Z.
(Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
June 7, 2017
Publication Date
February 10, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Scientific Reports
Volume: 6
e-ISSN: 2045-2322
Subject Category
Geosciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN30396
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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