Biomass burning in northern sub-Saharan Africa and

associated changes in environmental and climate variables

Presented at Our Common Future under Climate Change (CFCC) International Science Conference, Paris, UPMC room 101, 18:15, Tuesday, 7-July-2015

Charles Ichoku1, Luke Ellison1,2, Charles Gatebe1,3, Rajesh Poudyal1,2, Toshihisa Matsui1,4, Elena Willmot5, Trisha

Gabbert6, Jun Wang7, Yun Yue7, Richard Damoah1,8, Jejung Lee9, Jimmy Adegoke9, John Bolten1, Fritz Policelli1,

Eric Wilcox10, Farnaz Hosseinpour10, Shahid Habib1, Churchill Okonkwo11, Francois Engelbrecht12

1NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 610, Greenbelt, MD, USA 2Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, USA 3Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Columbia, MD, USA 4Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 5Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA 6South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSMT), Rapid City, SD, USA 7University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA 8Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA 9University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO, USA 10Desert Research Institute (DRI), Reno, NV, USA 11Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA 12Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa

Aerosol simulation from NASA GEOS-5 model nature

run, showing the distribution of sea-salt (blue),

pollution/volcanic (white), dust (red), and smoke

(green) aerosols over the African continent, with red

dots representing fire detections from MODIS (Image

source: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a01119

2/still_3-1024.jpg)

Environmental Research Letters Focus Issue (cover):

African Environmental Processes and Water-Cycle Dynamics

African Droughts (New Scientist: 19:00 12 June 2002)

“Although the droughts have had climate experts scratching their heads, the

impacts have been obvious. During the worst years, between 1972 and 1975,

and 1984 and 1985, up to a million people starved to death.”

Global (1950–2008) Temperature and Precipitation Trends

Dai et al., 2011, WIREs Climate Change Review

Suggested causes of NSSA drought • Overgrazing – (e.g. Charney et al 1975 QJRMS)

• Natural Variability (e.g. ENSO) that affect Atlantic Sea

Surface Temperatures – (e.g. Zeng 2003 Science,

Shanahan et al 2009 Science)

• Industrial Sulfur Emissions – (e.g. Held et al 2005 PNAS,

Booth et al 2012 Nature)

• Northern Hemisphere Volcanic Eruptions – (e.g. Haywood

et al 2012 Nature Climate Change)

Aqua-MODIS image of January 17, 2007 (NASA EarthObservatory)

But, how about Biomass Burning?

Lake Chad: poster child of African Sahel Droughts

Terra-MODIS image of 7 February 2008 at 12:40 UT

Fires Bare Soil Dust Desertification

Forest Reserves Under Pressure in Ghana

In the 1973 image the

vegetation inside and outside

the protected areas appears

green and robust

In the 2002/2003 dramatic change

is apparent; some of the northern

reserves have been decimated

and the northern edge of the

forest zone has moved south

Republic of Ghana

Terra- and Aqua-MODIS 2012 fire detections regionally

partitioned as defined in Kaiser et al. (2012)

Ichoku and Ellison, 2013, ACP, submitted Ichoku and Ellison, 2014, ACP

Annual Carbon Emissions from Open Fires by Region

Van der Werf et al., 2010, ACP

Bond et al (2013) JGR, 173pp

Black Carbon (BC) Emission

rates, and ratios against co-

emitted primary organic

aerosol (POA) and aerosol

precursors (e.g., SO2)

Emissions Inventories SPEW [Lamarque et al. 2010],

GAINS [UNEP/WMO, 2011a, 2011b],

RETRO [Schultz et al. 2008],

GFED [van der Werf et al. 2010],

Sulfur emissions [Streets et al. 2009].

Project Domains for Data and Modeling

Study Approach

Energy Cycle

- *Fires and emissions

- *Surface Albedo change

- *Land-cover change

Water Cycle

- Precipitation

- Soil Moisture/Ground Water

- Vegetation Greenness

- Evapotranspiration

Interactions and Feedbacks

- *Modeling at various scales

Climate and Society

- Climate analysis and projections

- *Collaboration and capacity building

- Societal impacts

NSSA

LCB

Smoke Emission Estimates and Evaluation

Ichoku and Ellison, 2014, ACP (http://feer.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/)

Smoke Emissions and Regional Modeling of Heating Rates and Transport

Yang et al., 2013, JGR

Landcover type and Albedo Change

1

Hypothesis: the impact of biomass burning

on albedo will depend on landcover type

MODIS Landcover types

Albedo

decrease:

22% Fire

Gatebe et al., 2014, ERL

NSSA Surface Albedo Recovery

NSSA Fire-induced Surface Albedo Change during 2001-2011

Gatebe et al., 2014, ERL

Picture from Chad, 25-Feb-2015

NSSA Surface Albedo Change

Based on MODIS fire observations and landcover classification using the IGBP scheme

Biomass Burning and Land-cover Change Dynamics (2003–2014)

Findings:

- Most burning in Savanna

- Burning on the downward trend

- Forest burning increasing

- Wetland burning introduced in

the Lake Chad basin

Scales of Interactions for modeling

LOCAL

IMPACT:

BB (albedo,

aerosol, FRP,

Veg dynamics,

soil moisture,

Precipitation,

direct/indirect

effect)

REGIONAL

IMPACT:

West African

Monsoon

(WAM)

GLOBAL

IMPACT:

Ocean &

General

Circulation

Cloud Feedback Heat Balance Atmos. Circulation

Season ~ Decades Monthly ~ Seasonal Hours ~ Days

Summary of NSSA Regional Study Biomass burning smoke emission is significant in NSSA (~25% global) and mixes with dust, potentially enhancing aerosol radiative forcing. Fires in NSSA produce a net decrease in surface albedo, which generally recovers to pre-fire values within 7 years in at least 98% of the cases. There is appreciable change in land cover from savanna to croplands/grasslands that can be linked to biomass burning. Although burning has decreased in the last decade, there is a perceptible increase in the burning of forests and wetlands.

Studies are ongoing to link the various components of fire-induced phenomena in order to comprehensively establish their role in drought and related societal impacts.

Lake Chad Basin Field Study February/March 2015

(Biomass Burning Season ramp-down)

Conducted In Partnership with the:

Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), N’djamena, Chad

Six Automated Weather Stations from TAHMO (Trans African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory

http://tahmo.org/)

Basic sensor package Temperature

Relative Humidity

Rainfall

Wind speed and direction

Short-wave solar radiation

Barometric pressure

Power has 6 mo battery backup at all times with solar power as primary energy source (5 x 5 cm panel). Cell phone data transmit

First ever automated weather station in the C. African region

at Univ. of N’Djamena, Toukra Campus, 25-Feb-2015

Terrestrial Hydrology Sensor Network

o Date: February/March 2015 (Dry/Burning season ramp-down)

o Monitoring sensors for groundwater level, soil moisture,

seepage, and temperature

Groundwater level

5-10 wells with

divers and

datalogger

Soil moisture

6 stations with 3

sensors in

depth

Seepage rate

10-20 stations with

manometer along

Chari River

Soil moisture

probe at Univ. of

N’Djamena,

Toukra Campus,

25-Feb-2015

Objectives of LCB Field Study • Use the measurements to initialize/parameterize (terrestrial

and atmos.) models focused on the Lake Chad Basin

• Quantify the Lake Chad Basin Water Balance (Precip/Soil

Moisture/Groundwater)

• Understand the LCB Water Cycle Processes and the

Energy/Water Cycle Interactions and feedbacks

• Utilize the understanding of basin scale processes to study

extended regional processes

• Use measurements to validate regional data analysis and

modeling results

Acknowledgements

NASA Earth Science Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) (c/o Drs. Jack Kaye and Hal Maring) for Funding Support Various NASA and other teams that provide data, as well as analysis and modeling support Various collaborating Agencies in Africa - Lake Chad Basin Commission - South African CSIR - Nigerian Space Agency (NASRDA) - The Nigerian Federal Surveys and Water Resources Ministry - and other agencies and individuals that have supported and/or

expressed their willingness to support the research.