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Title:
The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997
Authors:
Page, Susan E.; Siegert, Florian; Rieley, John O.; Boehm, Hans-Dieter V.; Jaya, Adi; Limin, Suwido
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Geography, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK), AB(Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München, Biology Department II, Luisenstrasse 14, D-80333 München, Germany, and Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH, Woerthstrasse 49, D-81667 München, Germany), AC(School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK), AD(Kalteng Consultants, Kirchstockacher Weg, 81663 München, Germany), AE(Centre for International Co-operation in Management of Tropical Peatland, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Palangka Raya, Palangka Raya 73112, Indonesia), AF(Centre for International Co-operation in Management of Tropical Peatland, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Palangka Raya, Palangka Raya 73112, Indonesia)
Publication:
Nature, Volume 420, Issue 6911, pp. 61-65 (2002). (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
11/2002
Origin:
NATURE
Bibliographic Code:
2002Natur.420...61P

Abstract

Tropical peatlands are one of the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon, and hence their stability has important implications for climate change. In their natural state, lowland tropical peatlands support a luxuriant growth of peat swamp forest overlying peat deposits up to 20 metres thick. Persistent environmental change-in particular, drainage and forest clearing-threatens their stability, and makes them susceptible to fire. This was demonstrated by the occurrence of widespread fires throughout the forested peatlands of Indonesia during the 1997 El Niño event. Here, using satellite images of a 2.5 million hectare study area in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, from before and after the 1997 fires, we calculate that 32% (0.79Mha) of the area had burned, of which peatland accounted for 91.5% (0.73Mha). Using ground measurements of the burn depth of peat, we estimate that 0.19-0.23gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon were released to the atmosphere through peat combustion, with a further 0.05Gt released from burning of the overlying vegetation. Extrapolating these estimates to Indonesia as a whole, we estimate that between 0.81 and 2.57Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia. This is equivalent to 13-40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957 (ref. 1).
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