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Regional wildfire smoke reduces boreal forest carbon uptake

Van Huizen, B. ; Thompson, D. K. ; Wilkinson, S. L. ; Petrone, R. M. ; Chasmer, L. E. ; Kljun, N. LU orcid ; Flannigan, M. D. ; Devito, K. J. and Waddington, J. M. (2025) In Environmental Research Communications 7(8).
Abstract

While many studies have examined carbon dynamics of boreal ecosystems following wildfire, research on forest-atmosphere carbon fluxes during widespread smoke events from adjacent active wildfires is limited. We examined eddy covariance carbon exchange adjacent to the May 2011 Utikuma Complex wildfire in central Alberta, Canada. Over a one-week period while the wildfire was burning <10 km from the flux footprint of the tower, net ecosystem CO2 exchange decreased to almost zero, likely due to smoke-related reductions in photosynthetically active radiation greatly diminishing photosynthesis. The smoke event caused a direct reduction in forest CO2 sequestration by 0.7 Tg CO2 during the fire period. As the... (More)

While many studies have examined carbon dynamics of boreal ecosystems following wildfire, research on forest-atmosphere carbon fluxes during widespread smoke events from adjacent active wildfires is limited. We examined eddy covariance carbon exchange adjacent to the May 2011 Utikuma Complex wildfire in central Alberta, Canada. Over a one-week period while the wildfire was burning <10 km from the flux footprint of the tower, net ecosystem CO2 exchange decreased to almost zero, likely due to smoke-related reductions in photosynthetically active radiation greatly diminishing photosynthesis. The smoke event caused a direct reduction in forest CO2 sequestration by 0.7 Tg CO2 during the fire period. As the smoke affected area was 120 times greater than the burnt area itself, this additional carbon reduction was equivalent to ~30% of gross carbon emissions from the fire. We argue that smoke-related inhibition of photosynthesis via reduced light availability should be considered when investigating the net impacts of high-intensity boreal wildfires on the net radiative forcing and global carbon balance.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aspen, Boreal Plains, CO, ecosystem productivity, smoke, wildfire
in
Environmental Research Communications
volume
7
issue
8
article number
081002
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:105012753192
ISSN
2515-7620
DOI
10.1088/2515-7620/adf498
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
id
ed159963-b84c-471a-9842-f79546bc6ff3
date added to LUP
2025-08-20 20:30:11
date last changed
2025-08-22 16:46:24
@article{ed159963-b84c-471a-9842-f79546bc6ff3,
  abstract     = {{<p>While many studies have examined carbon dynamics of boreal ecosystems following wildfire, research on forest-atmosphere carbon fluxes during widespread smoke events from adjacent active wildfires is limited. We examined eddy covariance carbon exchange adjacent to the May 2011 Utikuma Complex wildfire in central Alberta, Canada. Over a one-week period while the wildfire was burning &lt;10 km from the flux footprint of the tower, net ecosystem CO<sub>2</sub> exchange decreased to almost zero, likely due to smoke-related reductions in photosynthetically active radiation greatly diminishing photosynthesis. The smoke event caused a direct reduction in forest CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration by 0.7 Tg CO<sub>2</sub> during the fire period. As the smoke affected area was 120 times greater than the burnt area itself, this additional carbon reduction was equivalent to ~30% of gross carbon emissions from the fire. We argue that smoke-related inhibition of photosynthesis via reduced light availability should be considered when investigating the net impacts of high-intensity boreal wildfires on the net radiative forcing and global carbon balance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Van Huizen, B. and Thompson, D. K. and Wilkinson, S. L. and Petrone, R. M. and Chasmer, L. E. and Kljun, N. and Flannigan, M. D. and Devito, K. J. and Waddington, J. M.}},
  issn         = {{2515-7620}},
  keywords     = {{aspen; Boreal Plains; CO; ecosystem productivity; smoke; wildfire}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Environmental Research Communications}},
  title        = {{Regional wildfire smoke reduces boreal forest carbon uptake}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/adf498}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/2515-7620/adf498}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}