Climate versus carbon dioxide controls on biomass burning: a model analysis of the glacial–interglacial contrast

M Martin Calvo,S P Harrison,I C Prentice

doi:10.5194/bg-11-6017-2014

Abstract

Abstract. Climate controls fire regimes through its influence on the amount and types of fuel present and their dryness. CO2 concentration constrains primary production by limiting photosynthetic activity in plants. However, although fuel accumulation depends on biomass production, and hence on CO2 concentration, the quantitative relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and biomass burning is not well understood. Here a fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation model (the Land surface Processes and eXchanges model, LPX) is used to attribute glacial–interglacial changes in biomass burning to an increase in CO2, which would be expected to increase primary production and therefore fuel loads even in the absence of climate change, vs. climate change effects. Four general circulation models provided last glacial maximum (LGM) climate anomalies – that is, differences from the pre-industrial (PI) control climate – from the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project Phase~2, allowing the construction of four scenarios for LGM climate. Modelled carbon fluxes from biomass burning were corrected for the model's observed prediction biases in contemporary regional average values for biomes. With LGM climate and low CO2 (185 ppm) effects included, the modelled global flux at the LGM was in the range of 1.0–1.4 Pg C year-1, about a third less than that modelled for PI time. LGM climate with pre-industrial CO2 (280 ppm) yielded unrealistic results, with global biomass burning fluxes similar to or even greater than in the pre-industrial climate. It is inferred that a substantial part of the increase in biomass burning after the LGM must be attributed to the effect of increasing CO2 concentration on primary production and fuel load. Today, by analogy, both rising CO2 and global warming must be considered as risk factors for increasing biomass burning. Both effects need to be included in models to project future fire risks.

Highlights

Biomass burning, which is a major factor influencing terrestrial carbon fluxes to the atmosphere (Andreae and Merlet, 2001; Prentice et al, 2011a; Seiler and Crutzen, 1980), is strongly determined by fuel availability and dryness (Aldersley et al, 2011; Bistinas et al, 2013; Krawchuk et al, 2009; Krawchuk and Moritz, 2009, 2011; Moritz et al, 2013; Bistinas et al, 2014)
last glacial maximum (LGM) carbon storage was reduced by 40–52 %, similar to the 43 % reduction inferred by Ciais et al (2011)
This finding supports the suggestion of Prentice and Harrison (2009) and Prentice et al (2011a) that the increase in carbon storage from LGM to Holocene was primarily caused by CO2

Summary

Introduction

Biomass burning, which is a major factor influencing terrestrial carbon fluxes to the atmosphere (Andreae and Merlet, 2001; Prentice et al, 2011a; Seiler and Crutzen, 1980), is strongly determined by fuel availability and dryness (Aldersley et al, 2011; Bistinas et al, 2013; Krawchuk et al, 2009; Krawchuk and Moritz, 2009, 2011; Moritz et al, 2013; Bistinas et al, 2014). Very little information is currently available about these potential effects

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