Savanna Burning Research Articles

Developing a savanna burning emissions abatement methodology for tussock grasslands in high rainfall regions of northern Australia

Fire-prone tropical savanna and grassland systems are a significant source of atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases. In recent years, substantial research has been directed towards developing accounting methodologies for savanna burning emissions to be applied in Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, as well as for commercial carbon trading purposes. That work has focused on woody savanna systems. Here, we extend the methodological approach to include tussock grasslands and associated Melaleuca-dominated open woodlands ( 1,000 mm/annum) regions of northern Australia. Field assessments under dry season conditions focused on deriving fuel accumulation, fire patchiness and combustion relationships for key fuel types: fine fuels − grass and litter; coarse woody fuels − twigs 6 mm diameter; and shrubs. In contrast with previous savanna burning assessments, fire treatments undertaken under early dry season burning conditions resulted in negligible patchiness and very substantial consumption of fine fuels. In effect, burning in the early dry season provides no benefits in greenhouse gas emissions and emissions reductions in tussock grasslands can be achieved only through reducing the extent of burning. The practical implications of reduced burning in higher rainfall northern Australian grassland systems are discussed, indicating that there are significant constraints, including infrastructural, cultural and woody thickening issues. Similar opportunities and constraints are observed in other international contexts, but especially project implementation challenges associated with legislative, political and governance issues.

Can savanna burning projects deliver measurable greenhouse emissions reductions and sustainable livelihood opportunities in fire-prone settings?

Savannas constitute the most fire-prone vegetation type on earth and are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Most savanna fires are lit by people for a variety of livelihood applications. ‘Savanna burning’ is an accountable activity under the Kyoto Protocol, but only Australia, as a developed economy, accounts for emissions from this source in its national accounts. Over the past decade considerable effort has been given to developing savanna burning projects in northern Australia, combining customary indigenous (Aboriginal) approaches to landscape-scale fire management with development of scientifically robust emissions accounting methodologies. Formal acceptance by the Australian Government of that methodology, and its inclusion in Australia’s developing emissions trading scheme, paves the way for Aboriginal people to commercially benefit from savanna burning projects. The paper first describes this Australian experience, and then explores options for implementing community-based savanna burning emissions reduction projects in other continental savanna settings, specifically in Namibia and Venezuela. These latter examples illustrate that savanna fire management approaches potentially have broader application for contributing to livelihood opportunities in other fire-prone savanna regions.

Managing fire regimes in north Australian savannas: applying Aboriginal approaches to contemporary global problems

Savannas constitute the most fire‐prone biome on Earth and annual emissions from savanna‐burning activities are a globally important source of greenhouse‐gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we describe the application of a commercial fire‐management program being implemented over 28 000 km2 of savanna on Aboriginal lands in northern Australia. The project combines the reinstatement of Aboriginal traditional approaches to savanna fire management – in particular a strategic, early dry‐season burning program – with a recently developed emissions accounting methodology for savanna burning. Over the first 7 years of implementation, the project has reduced emissions of accountable GHGs (methane, nitrous oxide) by 37.7%, relative to the pre‐project 10‐year emissions baseline. In addition, the project is delivering social, biodiversity, and long‐term biomass sequestration benefits. This methodological approach may have considerable potential for application in other fire‐prone savanna settings.

Estimating the financial risks of Andropogon gayanus to greenhouse gas abatement projects in northern Australia

Financial mechanisms such as offsets are one strategy to abate greenhouse gas emissions, and the carbon market is expanding with a growing demand for offset products. However, in the case of carbon offsets, if the carbon is released due to intentional or unintentional reversal through environmental events such as fire, the financial liability to replace lost offsets will likely fall on the provider. This liability may have implications for future participation in programmes, but common strategies such as buffer pool and insurance products can be used to minimize this liability. In order for these strategies to be effective, an understanding of the spatial and temporal distributions of expected reversals is needed. We use the case study of savanna burning, an approved greenhouse gas abatement methodology under the Carbon Farming Initiative in Australia, to examine potential risks to carbon markets in northern Australia and quantify the financial risks. We focus our analysis on the threat of Andropogon gayanus (gamba grass) to savanna burning due to its documented impacts of increased fuel loads and altered fire regimes. We assess the spatial and financial extent to which gamba grass poses a risk to savanna burning programmes in northern Australia. We find that 75% of the eligible area for savanna burning is spatially coincident with the high suitability range for gamba grass. Our analysis demonstrates that the presence of gamba grass seriously impacts the financial viability of savanna burning projects. For example, in order to recuperate the annual costs of controlling 1 ha of gamba grass infestation, 290 ha of land must be enrolled in annual carbon abatement credits. Our results show an immediate need to contain gamba grass to its current extent to avoid future spread into large expanses of land, which are currently profitable for savanna burning.

Interactive Effects of Fire, Rainfall, and Litter Quality on Decomposition in Savannas: Frequent Fire Leads to Contrasting Effects

One of the many ecological processes expected to undergo alteration due to global change is the decomposition of organic matter, with little known concerning the effects that changing disturbance regimes may have. Fire, a critical process in many habitats, is expected to become more common. We measured the decomposition rates of four grass species that differed in litter quality, investigating them under different fire regimes across a savanna rainfall gradient in South Africa. We also collected data on the abundance and activity of fungus-growing termites and recorded measurements of temperature and canopy cover. Overall, decomposition rate followed global models, increasing under warmer and wetter conditions. Litter quality was also significant with higher quality grasses decomposing faster; however, this effect was less pronounced than expected. Fire regimes did not have a consistent effect on decomposition rate along the rainfall gradient. In the most arid savanna type examined, fire had no effect, whereas in the intermediate rainfall savanna burning increased decomposition rate under higher levels of fungus-growing termite activity. In the wetter savannas, fire slowed decomposition, possibly through modification of vegetation structure and potential effects on other invertebrates. Our results demonstrate that grass decomposition in African savannas varies significantly along precipitation gradients, with different factors becoming influential in different habitats. Importantly, we demonstrate that fire does not always act to slow decomposition and that it interacts with other factors to influence the process. These findings have important implications for decomposition in the light of global change models that predict wetter climates and a higher frequency of fires for southern African savannas.

Long-term variability and rainfall control of savanna fire regimes in equatorial East Africa.

Fires burning the vast grasslands and savannas of Africa significantly influence the global carbon cycle. Projecting the impacts of future climate change on fire-mediated biogeochemical processes in these dry tropical ecosystems requires understanding of how various climate factors influence regional fire regimes. To examine climate-vegetation-fire linkages in dry savanna, we conducted macroscopic and microscopic charcoal analysis on the sediments of the past 25000years from Lake Challa, a deep crater lake in equatorial East Africa. The charcoal-inferred shifts in local and regional fire regimes were compared with previously published reconstructions of temperature, rainfall, seasonal drought severity, and vegetation dynamics to evaluate millennial-scale drivers of fire occurrence. Our charcoal data indicate that fire in the dry lowland savanna of southeastern Kenya was not fuel-limited during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Late Glacial, in contrast to many other regions throughout the world. Fire activity remained high at Lake Challa probably because the relatively high mean-annual temperature (~22°C) allowed productive C4 grasses with high water-use efficiency to dominate the landscape. From the LGM through the middle Holocene, the relative importance of savanna burning in the region varied primarily in response to changes in rainfall and dry-season length, which were controlled by orbital insolation forcing of tropical monsoon dynamics. The fuel limitation that characterizes the region's fire regime today appears to have begun around 5000-6000years ago, when warmer interglacial conditions coincided with prolonged seasonal drought. Thus, insolation-driven variation in the amount and seasonality of rainfall during the past 25000 years altered the immediate controls on fire occurrence in the grass-dominated savannas of eastern equatorial Africa. These results show that climatic impacts on dry-savanna burning are heterogeneous through time, with important implications for efforts to anticipate future shifts in fire-mediated ecosystem processes.

Savanna burning: The ecology and economy of fire in tropical savannas

Savanna burning: The ecology and economy of fire in tropical savannas

Savanna burning, greenhouse gas emissions and indigenous livelihoods: Introducing the Tiwi Carbon Study

AbstractSavanna burning for greenhouse gas abatement presents an opportunity for remote Aboriginal communities of northern Australia to engage with the mainstream economy while fulfilling cultural obligations for land stewardship. The recently established Tiwi Carbon Study aims to identify the biophysical and economic potential of fire management for greenhouse gas abatement on the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, as a basis for possible livelihood opportunities for the Aboriginal Tiwi people. Recent (2001–2010) fire history for the Tiwi Islands based on AVHRR satellite imagery shows that on average 35% (187 700 ha) of its savanna woodlands and open forests are burned every year, with 72% of burning occurring late in the dry season (August to November). Non‐CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from Tiwi fires average 68 000 t CO2‐e year−1 and we discuss scenarios for greenhouse gas abatement through management of these fires by Tiwi people, consistent with the savanna burning methodology approved under the Federal Government's Carbon Farming Initiative. Changed fire management scenarios produced emissions abatement of up to 46 000 t CO2‐e year−1, with highest savings under a change in both fire frequency and intensity. In addition to abatement of non‐CO2 emissions, fire management has the potential to alter rates of carbon sequestered in soil and vegetation. Current ecosystem C stocks (excluding roots) on the Tiwi Islands range from 60 to 160 t C ha−1. The Tiwi Carbon Study features a long‐term, landscape‐scale fire experiment for informing full carbon accounting in relation to different fire management options, and for understanding their implications for biodiversity. We discuss potential co‐benefits and trade‐offs of fire management for greenhouse gas emissions abatement in relation to biodiversity and Tiwi cultural requirements and livelihood aspirations.

Savanna burning for biodiversity: Fire management for faunal conservation in Australian tropical savannas

AbstractTropical savannas are the world's most fire‐prone biome, and savanna biotas are generally well adapted to frequent fire. However, in northern Australia there are concerns that recent increases in the frequency and extent of high‐intensity fires are causing substantial declines in regional biodiversity values. In this paper we use two well‐studied and contrasting faunal groups, ants and small mammals, as case studies for reviewing faunal responses to fire in Australian savannas. The Australian savanna ant fauna is dominated by arid‐adapted taxa that are highly resilient to frequent fire and are not considered to be threatened by prevailing fire regimes. Indeed, frequent fire promotes ant diversity because it maintains an open habit that makes the dominant arid‐adapted taxa feel at home. Long‐term fire exclusion reduces ant diversity due to a marked decline in arid‐adapted taxa, and favours highly generalized, more shade‐tolerant taxa. In contrast, many small mammal species of high conservation value are highly sensitive to frequent fire, and there are widespread concerns that their populations are threatened by current fire management. Many of the species have shown dramatic population declines over recent decades, and, although the causes are poorly understood, there is little doubt that fire is an important contributing factor. It is likely that fire is acting synergistically with other underlying causes of decline, particularly predation by feral cats. The overall resilience of most savanna animal species in relation to frequent fire suggests that they are secure under all but the most extreme fire regimes. However, it is clear that more fire‐sensitive groups such as small mammals need special fire management attention. This needs to involve less frequent and finer‐scale burning, along with the protection of some large, infrequently burnt source areas.

Daily and 3-hourly variability in global fire emissions and consequences for atmospheric model predictions of carbon monoxide

Attribution of the causes of atmospheric trace gas and aerosol variability often requires the use of high resolution time series of anthropogenic and natural emissions inventories. Here we developed an approach for representing synoptic- and diurnal-scale temporal variability in fire emissions for the Global Fire Emissions Database version 3 (GFED3). We disaggregated monthly GFED3 emissions during 2003–2009 to a daily time step using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived measurements of active fires from Terra and Aqua satellites. In parallel, mean diurnal cycles were constructed from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) active fire observations. Daily variability in fires varied considerably across different biomes, with short but intense periods of daily emissions in boreal ecosystems and lower intensity (but more continuous) periods of burning in savannas. These patterns were consistent with earlier field and modeling work characterizing fire behavior dynamics in different ecosystems. On diurnal timescales, our analysis of the GOES WF_ABBA active fires indicated that fires in savannas, grasslands, and croplands occurred earlier in the day as compared to fires in nearby forests. Comparison with Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) column CO observations provided evidence that including daily variability in emissions moderately improved atmospheric model simulations, particularly during the fire season and near regions with high levels of biomass burning. The high temporal resolution estimates of fire emissions developed here may ultimately reduce uncertainties related to fire contributions to atmospheric trace gases and aerosols. Important future directions include reconciling top-down and bottom up estimates of fire radiative power and integrating burned area and active fire time series from multiple satellite sensors to improve daily emissions estimates.

Frequent burning promotes invasions of alien plants into a mesic African savanna

Fire is both inevitable and necessary for maintaining the structure and functioning of mesic savannas. Without disturbances such as fire and herbivory, tree cover can increase at the expense of grass cover and over time dominate mesic savannas. Consequently, repeated burning is widely used to suppress tree recruitment and control bush encroachment. However, the effect of regular burning on invasion by alien plant species is little understood. Here, vegetation data from a long-term fire experiment, which began in 1953 in a mesic Zimbabwean savanna, were used to test whether the frequency of burning promoted alien plant invasion. The fire treatments consisted of late season fires, lit at 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-year intervals, and these regularly burnt plots were compared with unburnt plots. Results show that over half a century of frequent burning promoted the invasion by alien plants relative to areas where fire was excluded. More alien plant species became established in plots that had a higher frequency of burning. The proportion of alien species in the species assemblage was highest in the annually burnt plots followed by plots burnt biennially. Alien plant invasion was lowest in plots protected from fire but did not differ significantly between plots burnt triennially and quadrennially. Further, the abundance of five alien forbs increased significantly as the interval (in years) between fires became shorter. On average, the density of these alien forbs in annually burnt plots was at least ten times as high as the density of unburnt plots. Plant diversity was also altered by long-term burning. Total plant species richness was significantly lower in the unburnt plots compared to regularly burnt plots. These findings suggest that frequent burning of mesic savannas enhances invasion by alien plants, with short intervals between fires favouring alien forbs. Therefore, reducing the frequency of burning may be a key to minimising the risk of alien plant spread into mesic savannas, which is important because invasive plants pose a threat to native biodiversity and may alter savanna functioning.

Indigenous Use of Fire and Forest Loss in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. Assessment of and Tools for Alternative Strategies of Fire Management in Pemón Indigenous Lands

In Canaima National Park (CNP), Venezuela, a protected area inhabited by the Pemon people, socio-cultural and demographic changes have contributed to the apparent unsustainable use of fire, leading to forest and habitat loss. This over-use of fire, together with increased forest vulnerability to fire as a result of global climate change, could put both ecosystems and human well-being at risk. The conflict over fire use derives from the fact that whereas the Pemon depend for their livelihood on the use of fire for shifting cultivation and hunting, the policy of the CNP government agencies is fire exclusion (although this is not effectively enforced). Nevertheless, recent ecological studies have revealed that the creation of a mosaic of patches with different fire histories could be used to create firebreaks that reduce the risk of the wildfires that threaten the vulnerable and diverse savanna-forest transition areas. This technique imitates the traditional cooperative savanna burning strategies of the Pemon. By linking research on knowledge systems with management policies, the impasse over fire in the CNP might be avoided.

Managing Sources and Sinks of Greenhouse Gases in Australia’s Rangelands and Tropical Savannas

Rangelands and savannas occupy 70% of the Australian continent and are mainly used for commercial grazing of sheep and cattle. In the center and north, where there are extensive areas of indigenous land ownership and pastoral production is less intensive, savanna burning is frequent. Greenhouse gas emissions from rangelands have been overwhelmingly from land clearing and methane production by livestock. Reductions in the rate of land clearing have substantially reduced Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, but these have been controversial with the reduced potential pasture production being of concern to many land managers. Reductions in direct livestock emissions are possible through manipulation of the genetics, rumen flora, or diet of animals. However, the greatest potential benefit is a whole-property approach with improved animal husbandry and attention to other aspects of property management such as fossil fuel consumption. Focus on emissions per unit of land area is likely to have other ecological benefits for land condition and to capture the effects of changes in carbon stocks in vegetation and soils. In much of northern and central Australia, changes in settlement patterns have led to more frequent and intense fires than under indigenous management regimes before European settlement. The implementation of more benign regimes of savanna burning has great potential benefit for greenhouse abatement, biodiversity, and livelihoods of indigenous people in remote settlements.

Improving estimates of savanna burning emissions for greenhouse accounting in northern Australia: limitations, challenges, applications

Although biomass burning of savannas is recognised as a major global source of greenhouse gas emissions, quantification remains problematic with resulting regional emissions estimates often differing markedly. Here we undertake a critical assessment of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI) savanna burning emissions methodology. We describe the methodology developed for, and results and associated uncertainties derived from, a landscape-scale emissions abatement project in fire-prone western Arnhem Land, northern Australia. The methodology incorporates (i) detailed fire history and vegetation structure and fuels type mapping derived from satellite imagery; (ii) field-based assessments of fuel load accumulation, burning efficiencies (patchiness, combustion efficiency, ash retention) and N : C composition; and (iii) application of standard, regionally derived emission factors. Importantly, this refined methodology differs from the NGGI by incorporation of fire seasonality and severity components, and substantial improvements in baseline data. We consider how the application of a fire management program aimed at shifting the seasonality of burning (from one currently dominated by extensive late dry season wildfires to one where strategic fire management is undertaken earlier in the year) can provide significant project-based emissions abatement. The approach has wider application to fire-prone savanna systems dominated by anthropogenic sources of ignition.

Savanna burning and the assessment of long-term fire experiments with particular reference to Zimbabwe

Long-term fire experiments in savannnas are rare, given the difficulties and demands of operation. Controlled fire experiments date from colonial times in West Africa, although the largest and best-known is located in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The achievements of these experiments are assessed from examples in Africa, South America and Australia. A less well-known experiment in Zimbabwe was sited at the Marondera Grassland Research Station and ran from 1953 to 1991. Some of the preliminary results on the impact of fire on vegetation are analysed and compared with further vegetation surveys in 2007. Studies on tree growth in this miombo savanna woodland indicate that the plots burned at three- and four-year intervals recovered to greater mean heights than the unburned control plots. There was no significant variation between treatments, suggesting that the few trees that did survive in the frequently burned plots were large specimens. Brachystegia and Julbernadia dominated the plots throughout and after the experiment. Basal area and stocking density were highest in the four-yearly burned plots but there was a high variability throughout the experiment, suggesting that many trees may have attained heights and bark thicknesses sufficient to protect from fire damage. Fire also affected the composition of the herbaceous plant community, but not the number of species. By the end of the experiment some grass and sedge species had flourished while others revealed greater susceptibility to fire, and fire-tolerant species predominated in the most frequently burned areas. The experimental design appeared to cope well with the variability between plots and indicated the soundness of the initial design and its implementation.

The management of climate change through prescribed Savanna burning: Emerging contributions of indigenous people in Northern Australia

AbstractAustralia has committed to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) achieved through a national emissions trading system, raising important issues for relatively undeveloped regions of Northern Australia and, in particular, Indigenous lands. Can mostly Indigenous and socio‐economically disadvantaged people living in such regions develop institutions to contribute significantly to the mitigation of GHGE, yet pursue regional development? Will national policies adequately recognise the special needs and potential contributions of such communities? These questions and the challenges inherent in them are addressed in this article with reference to a significant initiative involving the community management of landscape fire to reduce annual GHGE from savanna burning. This initiative appears to offer potential for engagement with global carbon markets, but it will need local, national and international support, along with appropriate changes in attitudes and legal arrangements, to ensure an equitable distribution of tangible rewards, while protecting the cultural and related benefits of customary fire use. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biofuels: Effects on Land and Fire

IN THEIR REPORTS IN THE 29 FEBRUARY ISSUE ('LAND CLEARING AND THE BIOFUEL CARBON debt,' J. Fargione et al., p. 1235, and 'Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change,' T. Searchinger et al., p. 1238), the authors do not provide adequate support for their claim that biofuels cause high emissions due to land-use change. The conclusions of both papers depend on the misleading premise that biofuel production causes forests and grasslands to be converted to agriculture. However, field research, including a meta-analysis of 152 case studies, consistently finds that land-use change and associated carbon emissions are driven by interactions among cultural, technological, biophysical, political, economic, and demographic forces within a spatial and temporal context rather than by a single crop market. Searchinger et al. assert that soybean prices accelerate clearing of rainforest based on a single citation for a study not designed to identify the causal factors of land clearing. The study analyzed satellite imagery from a single state in Brazil over a 4-year period and focused on land classification after deforestation. Satellite imagery can measure what changed but does little to tell us why. Similarly, Fargione et al. do not rely onmore » primary empirical studies of causes of land-use change. Furthermore, neither fire nor soil carbon sequestration was properly considered in the Reports. Fire's escalating contribution to global climate change is largely a result of burning in tropical savannas and forests. Searchinger et al. postulate that 10.8 million hectares could be needed for future biofuel, a fraction of the 250 to 400 million hectares burned each year between 2000 and 2005. By offering enhanced employment and incomes, biofuels can help establish economic stability and thus reduce the recurring use of fire on previously cleared land as well as pressures to clear more land. Neither Searchinger et al. nor Fargione et al. consider fire as an ongoing land-management tool. In addition, deep-rooted perennial biofuel feedstocks in the tropics could enhance soil carbon storage by 0.5 to 1 metric ton per hectare per year. An improved understanding of the forces behind land-use change leads to more favorable conclusions regarding the potential for biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Fire management policy and environmental NGO movement: critical contemporary perspectives, indicators and prospects in savannas, Ghana

Fire management policy is an intrinsic tool that cannot be neglected in the management of the processes of sustainable natural resource utilisation and human-induced burning in savannas but that has rather been a predominating case in most savanna regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Where an official fire policy exists, it is principally not efficiently implemented or consistently practised. New fire policy trends have recently emerged out of institutionally vibrant relations amongst environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local civil societies and government institutions in Ghana. The real outcomes from the relations have been the formulation of a new fire policy and unprecedented (re)production of robust institutional capital suitable for the management of savanna fire and the environment. This article draws on these outcomes to review fire occurrences and contemporary fire policy issues, the essence of building environmental NGO alliances and the prospects of engaging major grassroots stakeholders in fire management processes. It then explores new convertible indicators from and within the subspaces of the policy to generate important information to further new theoretical thinking of fire policies rather than conventionally uncritical rethinking of fire management in the savannas.

MIPAS measurements of upper tropospheric C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub> and O<sub>3</sub> during the southern hemispheric biomass burning season in 2003

Abstract. Under cloud free conditions, the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) provides measurements of spectrally resolved limb radiances down to the upper troposphere. These are used to infer global distributions of mixing ratios of atmospheric constituents in the upper troposphere and the stratosphere. From 21 October to 12 November 2003, MIPAS observed enhanced amounts of upper tropospheric C2H6 (up to about 400 pptv) and ozone (up to about 80 ppbv). The absolute values of C2H6, however, may be systematically low by about 30% due to uncertainties of the spectroscopic data used. By means of trajectory calculations, the enhancements observed in the southern hemisphere are, at least partly, attributed to a biomass burning plume, which covers wide parts of the Southern hemisphere, from South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean to Australia. The chemical composition of the part of the plume-like pollution belt associated with South American fires, where rainforest burning is predominant appears different from the part of the plume associated with southern African savanna burning. In particular, African savanna fires lead to a larger ozone enhancement than equatorial American fires. In this analysis, MIPAS observations of high ozone were disregarded where low CFC-11 (below 245 pptv) was observed, because this hints at a stratospheric component in the measured signal. Different type of vegetation burning (flaming versus smouldering combustion) has been identified as a candidate explanation for the different plume compositions.

Influence of savanna fire on Australian monsoon season precipitation and circulation as simulated using a distributed computing environment

Fires in the Australian savanna have been hypothesized to affect monsoon evolution, but the hypothesis is controversial and the effects have not been quantified. A distributed computing approach allows the development of a challenging experimental design that permits simultaneous variation of all fire attributes. The climate model simulations are distributed around multiple independent computer clusters in six countries, an approach that has potential for a range of other large simulation applications in the earth sciences. The experiment clarifies that savanna burning can shape the monsoon through two mechanisms. Boundary‐layer circulation and large‐scale convergence is intensified monotonically through increasing fire intensity and area burned. However, thresholds of fire timing and area are evident in the consequent influence on monsoon rainfall. In the optimal band of late, high intensity fires with a somewhat limited extent, it is possible for the wet season to be significantly enhanced.