Crop Burning Research Articles

A Review on Assessment of Ambient Air Quality of Hoshangabad and Itarsi of M.P.

The study reveals that the level of air pollution is rapidly increasing. The reason for this is migration which results into growth of urbanization and transportation and the reason for this is industrialization ultimate the result is more pressure on the atmosphere. Due to emission various gases, this adversely affects the human health, plants and animals. According to this study some of the impacts on air making it pollute are those from mining areas, burning crop Residues and other household activities. These all result in the increased level of oxide of sulphur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (vocs) , oxide of Nitrogen (NOx) and ozone(O3). The study tell that the people who are directly exposed to and affected due to air pollution are traffic crop occurs road, shopkeepers, rickshaw pullers, public Transpiration employees as well as the residents closed to busy roads. as a result of this they are prone to lungs diseases

Sources, sinks, and chemistry of Stabilized Criegee Intermediates in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

Night-time oxidation significantly affects the atmospheric concentration of primary and secondary air pollutants but is poorly constrained over South Asia. Here, using a comprehensively measured and unprecedented set of precursors and sinks of Stabilized Criegee Intermediates (SCI), in the summertime air of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), we investigate the chemistry, and abundance in detail. This study reports the first summertime levels from the IGP of ethene, propene, 1-butene, cis-2-butene, trans-2-butene, 1-pentene, cis-2-pentene, trans-2-pentene, and 1-hexene and their possible roles in SCI chemistry. Ethene, propene, and 1-butene were the highest ambient alkenes in both the summer and winter seasons. Applying chemical steady-state to the measured precursors, the average calculated SCI concentrations were 4.4 (±3.6) × 103 molecules cm−3, with Z-CH3CHOO (55 %) as the major SCI. Z-RCHOO (35 %) and α-pinene derived PINOO (34 %) were identified as the largest contributors to SCI with a 7.8 × 105 molecules cm−3 s−1 production rate. The peak SCI occurred during the evenings. For all SCI species, the loss was dominated (>50 %) by unimolecular decomposition or reactions with water vapor or water vapor dimer. Pollution events influenced by crop burning resulted in significantly elevated SCI production (2.1 times higher relative to non-polluted periods) reaching as high as (7.4 ± 2.5) × 105 molecules cm−3 s−1. Among individual SCI species, Z-CH3CHOO was highest in all the plume events measured accounting for at least ~41 %. Among alkenes, trans-2-butene was the highest contributor to P(SCI) in plume events ranging from 22 to 32 %. SCIs dominated the night-time oxidation of sulfur dioxide with rates as high as 1.4 (±1.1) × 104 molecules cm−3 s−1 at midnight, suggesting that this oxidation pathway could be a significant source of fine mode sulfate aerosols over the Indo-Gangetic Plain, especially during summertime biomass burning pollution episodes.

Exploring rice straw as substrate for hydrogen production: Critical challenges and opportunities

Due to the world’s constant demand for rice as a main food crop, the quantity of rice straw produced pressurizing the waste management strategies of the countries. Rice straw is a big waste management issue in rice-producing nations such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, etc. Burning rice straw on the field is the most preferred option for farmers to get rid of the rice straw which creates an array of environmental issues. In addition to jeopardizing the environment by emitting a significant quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the inappropriate utilization of rice straw and open crop burning in the field also tend to lose farmers a very profitable by-product. Benefits can be harnessed by utilizing the abundant rice straw as a raw material for valuable product generation. This work reviews the significant aspects of the use of rice straw as an imperative source of clean energy. The paper emphasizes some important background knowledge, such as the chemical, and physical properties that determine the caliber of rice straw. The different pretreatment methods that can make rice straw equipped for hydrogen production have also been discussed. The latest thermochemical and biochemical approaches for converting rice straw into hydrogen are vividly presented. Further studying the viability of producing hydrogen from rice straw in the context of modern agriculture becomes more crucial. The present review also discussed the policies and current situation of hydrogen production globally and provides a forecast on the state of hydrogen as a clean fuel for a sustainable future.

Impacts of biomass power generation on ambient air quality–evidence from China

ABSTRACT With deteriorating air pollution and climate change, generating power with cleaner technologies to meet energy demand of economic development has become a crucial policy consideration globally. Biomass power generation, despite being cleaner than coal power generation, still emits certain air pollutants that can impact ambient air quality. On the other hand, biomass power plants might mitigate air pollution by reducing open-field crop burning. With this counteracting in play, it is unclear which effect is dominant and how biomass power generation affects ambient air quality eventually. We build a unique spatially high-resolution dataset for 20-km-radius circles, considering both regions with biomass power plants and those without, to explore the impacts of biomass power generation on air quality in nearby regions. By applying panel and canonical difference-in-differences models with various model specifications and estimation strategies, we demonstrate that biomass power generation in China significantly reduces ambient annual concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and CO. The impacts on NO2 reduction could only be observed in summer, when open-field burnings decreased substantially. The impacts on PM2.5 could be observed in both summer and fall. No seasonal pattern is observed for the reductions in PM10, SO2, and CO concentrations.

Land footprint and GHG emissions from global food loss.

Efficient land use represents a global challenge in the context of high levels of food loss (FL) and waste (FLW) and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from global agricultural activities. This study aimed to estimate the land footprint (LF) associated with FL worldwide. It also estimated the GHG emissions from crop residues and their burning, and their relationship with food loss for the main crops worldwide. The study analyzed data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) regarding land use, FL, and global GHG emissions from crop residues. The findings suggest that the average LF associated with FL worldwide is about 69million ha per year, and the main food items responsible for most of the LF associated with FL are maize, wheat, and rice. The annual average emissions derived from burning crop residues of FL are 48.8 kilotons year-1 of CH4 and 1.26 kilotons year-1 of N2 O, and the emission of N2 O derived from crop residues of FL is about 24.1 kilotons year-1 , considering the three crops. Food loss implies high levels of LF and GHG emissions, reinforcing the need for proper public and private initiatives worldwide to reduce FL and waste (FLW). Organizations such as the FAO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) should incorporate indicators regarding FLW reduction to evaluate and monitor countries' performance. An international agreement also needs to be addressed to engage the world's nations in the reduction of FLW levels. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Innovative agroecological practices can restore degraded farmlands and revive crop yields

Land degradation is a major obstacle to agricultural development in Africa, where it's accentuated by poor agricultural practices and climate change effects. Restoration of degraded lands is crucial to prevent incursions into virgin and marginal lands. A field experiment was carried out over a four-year period on two degraded sites, to assess and compare the effect of the common practices of: (i) burning crop residues and weeds by resource-poor farmers (T1) and (ii) burning crop residues and weeds followed with application of manure and/or NPK as external inputs (T2) by resource-endowed farmers with (iii) an innovative agroecological package (T3) on soil physical, chemical and biological attributes, and crop yields. T3 consisted of crop rotation and/ intercropping with Mucuna pruriens cover crop, grasses (Pennisetum purpureum and Setaria sphacelate) and shrubs (Calliandra calothyrsus, and Leucaena diversifolia), and the application of manure and NPK. A randomized complete block design with 8 and 10 blocks, with each package appearing once in each block, was used respectively, at Mulungu and Mushinga. The agroecological package significantly improved soil and plant parameters compared to the common practices at both sites. The average plot-level aboveground biomass was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in T1 (11.3–17.4 t/ha) and T2 (10.1–21.9) than in T3 (39.9–60.4 t/ha). Similar trends were observed for bean and maize grain and banana bunch yields. When T1 is compared to T3, mean yields increased 2.6 times (848 kg/ha against 327 kg/ha), 2.8 times (2,201 kg/ha against 792 kg/ha) and 1.5 times (7.4 t/ha against 5.0 t/ha) for bean grains, maize grain, and banana bunches, respectively. Improvements were also observed for soil physical, biological, and chemical properties. A decrease in soil temperature; and increases in soil porosity, earthworm density/m2 (1,932 against 0), nodules/bean plant (28 against 21) and root length density (65 against 15.5 cm) were observed in T3. T3 (compared to T1), had a decrease in acidity and Al3+; an increase in soil organic matter, K+, Ca+, and aboveground carbon stock (26.5 t/ha against 5.6 t/ha). The innovative agroecological package is thus an approach that can be used to effectively restore degraded and abandoned farmlands.

Wildfires as a Source of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in Soil: A Case Study from Campania Region (Italy)

The worldwide increase in fire events has attracted global attention, as potentially toxic elements (PTEs) have been widely recognised within the produced ash. Ash is transported, dispersed by wind, and deposited into the soil and surficial waters even far from fires. Considering that their composition can be enriched in PTEs, they represent a potential hazard for humans and other animals exposed to airborne particles and, afterwards, to resuspended matter, even at a considerable distance from the source. This study aimed to assess the environmental impact of fire events that occurred during the 2017 summer season at two different sites in the Campania region (Southern Italy). One of the fires affected a waste disposal site west of Caserta, and one involved a forest on the slopes of Mt. Somma-Vesuvius, a few kilometres southeast of Naples, the regional capital. Changes to the PTE concentration in the topsoil in the surroundings of both sites, after the fire events, were investigated. Enrichment factors (EFs) of a selection of PTEs were determined by comparing geochemical data from two sampling campaigns, one completed before and one after the fire events. A combined application of multivariate statistics (based on robust principal component analysis; RPCA) and geospatial analysis was used to determine the materials affected by the fire on the slopes of Mt. Somma-Vesuvius, and roughly locate their place. Specifically, a statistically significant enrichment of Hg was identified in the topsoil of both study areas. In addition, in soil samples collected at Mt. Somma-Vesuvius, more PTEs showed significant changes in their concentration. For both areas, Hg enrichments were related to the deposition of ash proceeding from waste burning; furthermore, as regards the soil of the Vesuvian area, Cr and Cd enrichments were associated with the fallout of ash generated during biomass combustion, and the increase in Cu and Zn concentrations was linked to the burning of crops on cultivated lands. Apart from the specific results obtained, concerning the examined case studies, the methods applied can be seen as a reliable option to determine the compositional characteristics of materials burned during a fire event, even with the prospect of improving the eventual assessment process of the related environmental hazards.

Incentives, penalties, and rural air pollution: Evidence from satellite data

I test the role of economic incentives and command and control in reducing agricultural fires, a major source of air pollution in most rural regions across the world caused by burning crop residues after harvest. To tackle data shortage, I use high-resolution satellite data to construct a fine measure of agricultural fires as well as other geographic characteristics at 1 km × 1 km resolution for China. Using the staggered arrival of biomass power plants, which purchase crop residues as production inputs from nearby areas, as a shock to economic incentives, I find a more than 30% drop in agricultural fires in the vicinity of a plant after its opening relative to areas farther away. Such drop cannot be explained by structural transformation, migration, or enhanced regulation near the plant, and is consistent with an incentive-based explanation. I then examine the effectiveness of a command and control policy that bans agricultural fires within 15 km of airports. Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, I find no evidence that such policy works.

Trends and Variability of PM2.5 at Different Time Scales over Delhi: Long-term Analysis 2007–2021

The present study investigated the long-term inter-annual, seasonal, and monthly trend analysis and variability of PM2.5 at different time scales over the national capital, Delhi, India using high-resolution surface observations from six stations during 2007-2021. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall and Theil-Sen slope estimator were used to study the temporal variations. The long-term PM2.5 concentration showed an overall small but statistically significant decreasing trend with an average decrease of -1.35 (95 % CI: -2.3, -0.47) μg m-3 year-1. Seasonal trends revealed a significant decreasing value of -3.05 μg m-3 year-1 (p < 0.1) for summer, insignificant declining trend of -1.95 μg m-3 year-1 for monsoon and no significant trend was found for the post-monsoon and winter season. Except for December and January, all months displayed a decreasing trend for PM2.5 concentration. These findings indicate that particle pollution over the city is declining at a very slow rate. A rising trend was found for relative humidity and surface pressure, whereas a declining trend for wind speed and PBLH noted. No trend was observed for temperature and rainfall. The Pearson linear correlation between PM2.5 and meteorological variables was studied using monthly mean data. Rainfall, air temperature, PBLH, and wind speed showed a negative correlation with PM2.5, whereas surface pressure had a positive correlation and relative humidity displayed an inverted U-shape relationship. The average concentration of PM2.5 in the study period of 15 years remained 125 ± 86 μg m-3 (ranging between 20 to 985 μg m-3) and during winter, summer, monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons it was 174 ± 75, 101 ± 48, 66 ± 50, and 192 ± 93 μg m-3 respectively. The monthly average PM2.5 concentration observed minimum in August and maximum in November. Satellite data of fire events showed that the crop residue burning over the Punjab region had a significant contribution to the peak PM2.5 levels in Delhi during the crop burning period. Government agencies need more strict action plans, especially during winter, to comply with air quality standards.

Late Bronze Age Food Storage in Lower Cerovačka Cave, Croatia

This paper presents new archaeobotanical data from the Lower Cerovačka Cave located in Dalmatia, Croatia. At the site a high density of carbonized plant remains was recovered, indicating the remnants of a burnt crop store dating to the Late Bronze Age. Overall, the assemblage is dominated by lentil (Lens culinaris) and free-threshing wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum), and to a lesser extent, emmer (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn (Triticum monococcum), spelt (Triticum spelta) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). In general, the large botanical collection from Lower Cerovačka Cave fits with what is already known about Bronze Age agriculture in Croatia, yet the unique nature of this site brings to the fore questions around storage practices and the use of caves in prehistory.

Rapid Fabrication of Pineapple Leaf Fibers from Discarded Leaves by Using Electrolysis of Brine

Instead of contributing to global warming by the traditional method—burning crop wastes—in this study, discarded pineapple leaves were rapidly turned into multifunctional fibers: pineapple leaf fibers (PALF). In addition, the presence of pure hydrogen during treatment can be a competitive advantage. PALF were extracted by a conventional technique, then immersed into sodium hydroxide 6% before it was treated with an electrolysis system of sodium chloride 3%. The crystallinity index increased 57.4% of treated PALF, and was collected from XRD. Meanwhile, the removal of hemicellulose and lignin in the fiber formation was presented at the absorbance peak of around 1730 cm−1 by FTIR spectrums. Simultaneously, the purity of hydrogen reached 99% and was confirmed by GC analysis. The obtained PALF and hydrogen can be used for further consideration, aiming for a circular economy.

Cascading Delays in the Monsoon Rice Growing Season and Postmonsoon Agricultural Fires Likely Exacerbate Air Pollution in North India

AbstractOver the past two decades, smoke aerosols from crop residue burning have increasingly degraded postmonsoon (October‐November) air quality in north India. We use satellite data and atmospheric modeling to investigate whether cascading delays in monsoon rice growth and postmonsoon fires over 2003–2019 have exacerbated the already poor urban air quality downwind of the fires. Beginning in 2008, a government effort to combat groundwater depletion in Punjab mandated rice sowing until closer to the arrival of monsoon rains. We find evidence of district‐level delays in the timing of both monsoon rice growth and postmonsoon fires, which vary from 1 to 4 weeks with largely an east‐west gradient. These delays are correlated spatially (r = 0.51–0.77), with northern and western districts in Punjab, which rely less on groundwater for irrigation, tending to have the greatest delays. Had the delays in fire activity not occurred, we estimate that cities downwind and near the fire source would have consistently seen less smoke‐related fine particulate matter (PM2.5), on average ranging from 11% to 21% for New Delhi, Bathinda, and Jind during 2008–2019. This net benefit of earlier postmonsoon burning could have been even larger given that (a) a longer rice‐to‐wheat transition could incentivize farmers to find alternatives to burning crop residues; and (b) background PM2.5 is less abundant earlier in the season, decreasing the likelihood of extreme pollution episodes. Strategies aiming to mitigate air pollution while conserving groundwater may be more effective by promoting an earlier monsoon growing season in districts with less groundwater depletion.

Evaluation of Agricultural Waste Management Mechanism in Iran

The unfavourable situation of waste management in Iran can be seen in different sectors, and agriculture is not excluded from these sectors. The wastes of the agricultural industry can be used in a beneficial way in various agricultural applications and other industrial processes. However, the cost of collection, processing, and transportation can be much higher than the income from the beneficial use of such waste. Incineration of crop residues creates numerous environmental problems. The most important side effects of burning crop residues include the emission of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming, air pollution, and things like soil degradation, loss of soil fertility, loss of beneficial microorganisms, intensification of soil erosion, etc. In the current research, which is a review based on library sources, the mechanism of agricultural waste management in Iran has been evaluated. There are other consequences of such actions. The criteria for action are laws regarding the burning of product residues in Iran, the most important of which are the Waste Management Law and the Clean Air Law. Among these methods are sustainable management methods for product residues, including compost production, biochar production, and waste management at the production site.

Centennial records of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and black carbon in Altay Mountains peatlands, Xinjiang, China

Black carbon (BC) is an important inert carbon component in the cycling process of surface carbon. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a kind of thick cyclic organic compounds with carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic effects. The incomplete burning process of biomass and carbolic fuel is the important source of their co-occurrence. This study collected a 60-cm peat core from the Jiadengyu (JDY), Altay Mountain. The core was dated using the 210Pb and 137Cs methods. The results showed BC, total organic carbon, and PAHs of the JDY peat core to be 1.14–72.6 mg g−1, 17.09–47.2%, and 260.58–1,610.77 ng·g−1, respectively. δ13CBC was between −31.5 and − 29.4‰ (mean of −30.56‰). The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated irregular or lumpy peat BC particles, retaining a plant fiber structure. δ13CBC, ratios of PAHs, and the SEM revealed that the BC to be the dominant source of biomass combustion in the peatland. BC showed an increasing trend between 1950 and 1980, after which it decreased. The discrepancy between the change in BC and δ13CBC from the national pattern of BC emission likely reflects the effect of local agricultural exploration, and thus an increase in crop burning.

Impacts of Mechanized Crop Residue Management on Rice-Wheat Cropping System—A Review

Residue management has become a new challenge for Indian agriculture and agricultural growth, as well as environmental preservation. The rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) is predominantly followed cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP), resulting in generating a large volume of agricultural residue. Annually, India produces 620 MT of crop residue, with rice and wheat accounting for 234 MT of the surplus and 30% of the total. Farmers are resorting to burning crop residue due to the short window between paddy harvest and seeding of rabi season crops, namely wheat, potato, and vegetables, for speedy field preparation. Burning of residues pollutes the environment, thus having adverse effects on human and animal health, as well as resulted in a loss of plant important elements. This problem is particularly prevalent in rice-wheat-dominant states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. If we may use in situ management as residue retention after chopper and spreader, sowing wheat with Happy seeder/zero drill/special drill with full residue load, full residue, or full residue load incorporation with conventional tillage, burning is not the sole approach for residue management. In addition, off-farm residues generated are being utilized for animal feed and raw materials for industries. While there are regional variations in many mechanization drivers and needs, a wide range of mechanization components can be transported to new places to fit local conditions. This article focuses on innovations, methods, and tactics that are relevant to various mechanization systems in particular geographical areas. This article also stresses the need for a thorough analysis of the amount of residue generated, residue utilization using modern mechanical equipment, and their positive and negative effects on crop yield and yield attributes, weed diversity, soil physic-chemical, biological properties, beneficial, and harmful nematode populations in the IGP, which will aid researchers and policymakers in farming research priorities and policy for ensuring sustainability in RWCS.

SMOG AND HEALTH

Smog is a declared threatening Public Health Emergency in South Asia recently. The most affected areas are Pakistan, India, and China.1 Pakistan is today the world's fourth most polluted country due to industrial and vehicular emissions, crop burning, and recent projects of coal as a source of energy. The air pollution level in our region is getting alarming and is considered to be among the unhealthiest worldwide.2&#x0D; Most of the smog we see is "Photochemical Smog" containing volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbons, nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide. When the sunlight reacts with the nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere, there is the production of airborne particles and smog. The problem is becoming serious over the last decade due to high levels of pollution due to vehicular smoke and industrial activities.3 Even now during the months of summer, there is now photochemical smog which is washed away by rain. Prolonged heavy exposure to hazardous air causes various health problems including asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, skin cancer etc. 4&#x0D; A study reporting the long-term effects of smog in the great London concluded that exposure to smog during the first year of life increased the risk of childhood asthma by 19.87%. 5&#x0D; Pollution and winter weather conditions both shroud the cities in smog. Excessive population, shortage of funds for development especially municipal services, illiteracy, poverty, vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, fossil fuel powered plants, burning of trees for industrial development, burning of waste materials and coal being burned by thousands of brick kilns all contribute to the formation of smog.6&#x0D; Certain Measures should be taken to control this alarming health hazard. Effective legislation, effective public awareness programs are needed via print and electronic media. Use of face masks particularly outdoors, avoidance of outdoor activities as much as possible, regular use of air purifiers at home and offices, minimize air pollution from cars and use public transport, and tree plantation are some of the measures to reduce smog effects.

Large sub-regional differences of ammonia seasonal patterns over India reveal inventory discrepancies

Ammonia (NH3) is a key precursor of haze particles and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and its spatiotemporal variabilities are poorly constrained. In this study, we present measurements of NH3 over the Indian subcontinent region from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) satellite instruments. This region exhibits a complex emission profile due to the number of varied sources, including crop burning, fossil fuel combustion, fertilizer application, livestock and industrial sources. Observations from the CrIS and IASI instruments are oversampled to a resolution of 0.02° × 0.02°. Five regions with distinct spatiotemporal NH3 profiles are determined using k-means clustering. Maximum NH3 columns are seen in July over the western India with column densities of 6.2 × 1017 mol cm−2 and 7.2 × 1017 mol cm−2 respectively for IASI and CrIS. The seasonality of measured NH3 columns show annual maxima occurring in spring in Eastern India and Bangladesh and in mid-summer for the western Indo-Gangetic plain. Our observational constraints suggest that the impact of local farming practices on NH3 emissions is not well captured in emission inventories such as Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), which exhibits peaks in the late spring and autumn. The spatial variability in the seasonal patterns of NH3 is also not captured by the single emissions profile used in CMIP6 for India. The high-resolution maps obtained from these measurements can be used to improve NH3 emission inventories in order to understand its sources for more accurate predictions of air quality in the Indian subcontinent. Our study points to the need for regionally specific emissions inventories for short-lived species such as NH3 that have heterogeneous emissions profiles due to specific agricultural practices and other emission source characteristics.

AEROsol generic classification using a novel Satellite remote sensing Approach (AEROSA)

Numerous studies (hereafter GA: general approach studies) have been made to classify aerosols into desert dust (DD), biomass-burning (BB), clean continental (CC), and clean maritime (CM) types using only aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE). However, AOD represents the amount of aerosol suspended in the atmospheric column while the AE is a qualitative indicator of the size distribution of the aerosol estimated using AOD measurements at different wavelengths. Therefore, these two parameters do not provide sufficient information to unambiguously classify aerosols into these four types. Evaluation of the performance of GA classification applied to AErosol Robotic NETwork (AERONET) data, at sites for situations with known aerosol types, provides many examples where the GA method does not provide correct results. For example, a thin layer of haze was classified as BB and DD outside the crop burning and dusty seasons respectively, a thick layer of haze was classified as BB, and aerosols from known crop residue burning events were classified as DD, CC, and CM by the GA method. The results also show that the classification varies with the season, for example, the same range of AOD and AE were observed during a dust event in the spring (20th March 2012) and a smog event in the autumn (2nd November 2017). The results suggest that only AOD and AE cannot precisely classify the exact nature (i.e., DD, BB, CC, and CM) of aerosol types without incorporating more optical and physical properties. An alternative approach, AEROsol generic classification using a novel Satellite remote sensing Approach (AEROSA), is proposed to provide aerosol amount and size information using AOD and AE, respectively, from the Terra-MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Collection 6.1 Level 2 combined Dark Target and Deep Blue (DTB) product and AERONET Version 3 Level 2.0 data. Although AEROSA is also based on AOD and AE, it does not claim the nature of aerosol types, instead providing information on aerosol amount and size. The purpose is to introduce AEROSA for those researchers who are interested in the generic classification of aerosols based on AOD and AE, without claiming the exact aerosol types such as DD, BB, CC, and CM. AEROSA not only provides 9 generic aerosol classes for all observations but can also accommodate variations in location and season, which GA aerosol types do not.

High-Resolution Daily Emission Inventory of Biomass Burning in the Amur-Heilong River Basin Based on MODIS Fire Radiative Energy Data

Open biomass burning (OBB) is one of the major factors that influences the regional climate environment and surface vegetation landscape, and it significantly affects the regional carbon cycle process and atmospheric environment. The Amur-Heilong River Basin (ARB) is a fire-prone region in high-latitude boreal forests. In this study, we used fire radiative power (FRP) obtained from a Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to estimate OBB emissions from the ARB and established a long-term series (2003–2020) with a high spatiotemporal resolution and a daily 1 km emissions inventory. The results show that the annual average emissions of CO2, CO, CH4, NMHCs, NOx, NH3, SO2, BC, OC, PM2.5, and PM10 were estimated to be 153.57, 6.16, 0.21, 0.78, 0.28, 0.08, 0.06, 0.04, 0.39, 0.66, and 0.85 Tg/a, respectively. Taking CO2 as an example, grassland fire in the dry season (mainly in April and October) was the largest contributor (87.18 Tg/a), accounting for 56.77% of the total CO2 emissions from the ARB, followed by forest fire prone to occur in April–May (56.53 Tg/a, 36.81%) and crop fire during harvest season (9.86 Tg/a, 6.42%). Among the three countries in the ARB, Russia released the most total CO2 emissions (2227.04 Tg), much higher than those of China (338.41 Tg) and Mongolia (198.83 Tg). The major fire types were crop fires (40.73%) on the Chinese side and grass fires on the Russian (56.67%) and Mongolian (97.56%) sides. Over the past decade, OBB CO2 emissions have trended downward (−0.79 Tg/a) but crop burning has increased significantly (+0.81 Tg/a). Up to 83.7% of crop fires occurred in China (2010–2020), with a concentrated and southward trend. Comparisons with the Global Fire Emission Dataset (GFED4.1s), the Fire INventory from NCAR (FINNv2.2), and the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) showed that our newly established emission inventory was in good agreement with these three datasets in the ARB. However, this multi-year, daily 1 km high-resolution emission inventory has the advantages of detecting more small fire emissions that were overlooked by coarse-grid datasets. The methods described here can be used as an effective means of estimating greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions from biomass combustion.

Effects of Burning Crop Residues and Drenched the Soil with Water on the Populations of the Bacteria, Thiobacillus spp. and the Fungus, Trichoderma spp. in the Open Fields

Burning crop residues and/or drenched fields with water is one of the most common methods for controlling weeds and plant diseases in Iraq that farmers use after the wheat and barley harvest season every year. It is known that the soil contains many microorganisms that coexist with the roots of plants, such as fungi and symbiotic bacteria. This study aimed to show the effect of soil burning harvest residues or drenched with water on the population density of Trichoderma spp. fungus and Thiobacillus spp. bacteria. The results of the experiment showed that the burning process negatively affects the population density of microorganisms in the soil, which live at a level of 10 cm below the soil surface. The results indicated that there was a clear and significant difference between the treatments, like the burning of harvest residues or drenched of the soil, which reduced the population density of the tested microorganisms in the experiments.