UNEP WORKSHOP: Fate and Transport of Mercury April 7-11, 2008, Rome, Italy Hans Friedli, Avelino Arellano, Jr. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA Sergio Cinnirella, Nicola Pirrone Division Rende, CNR- Institute of Atmospheric Pollution, Rende, Italy Chapter 8: Mercury Emissions from Global Biomass Burning: spatial and temporal distribution, 1997-2006
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Chapter 8: Mercury Emissions from Global Biomass … 8: Mercury Emissions from Global Biomass Burning: spatial and temporal distribution, 1997-2006 Approach - First inclusion of mercury
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UNEP WORKSHOP: Fate and Transport of MercuryApril 7-11, 2008, Rome, Italy
Hans Friedli, Avelino Arellano, Jr.
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
Sergio Cinnirella, Nicola Pirrone
Division Rende, CNR- Institute of Atmospheric Pollution, Rende, Italy
Chapter 8: Mercury Emissions from Global Biomass Burning: spatial and temporal distribution, 1997-2006
Approach
- First inclusion of mercury from BMB into UNEP budget- Deviation from conventional approach based on governmental
burn statistics
- Based on global advanced carbon emission model coupled with experimental EF(Hg)
- Results- Background and methods- Limitations- Impact and research needs- Summary and conclusions
Outline
BOTTOM LINE
1997-2006 average annual estimate for global mercury emission from biomass burning
675 ± 240 Mg Hg/yr
Uncertainties:EF(Hg): Hg in fuel, fraction released
Carbon emission: fuel pool size, fire detection, burn area, fire dynamics
Variability:Seasonal, inter-annual (climate)
Hg Emission Carbon Emission Burned Area Effective EF
Mg Hg / yr Tg C / mo Mha / mo g Hg / kg fuel
Jan 41 241 46 77
Feb 44 166 23 120
Mar 66 162 15 184
Apr 43 108 11 177
May 51 143 15 160
Jun 38 149 16 116
Jul 57 228 24 112
Aug 109 365 34 134
Sep 105 323 35 147
Oct 70 196 26 161
Nov 24 125 31 86
Dec 26 215 55 56
Mean seasonality of global mercury and carbon emissions (1997-2006)
Hg Emissions Carbon Emissions Burned Area Effective EF
Regions Mg Hg/yr Tg C/yr Mha/yr g Hg/kg fuel
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean
BONA 22 16 42 30 2 1 233
TENA 6 3 16 6 2 0 178
CEAM 22 25 56 61 3 2 175
NHSA 13 10 38 25 4 1 157
SHSA 95 39 294 97 12 2 145
EURO 2 1 14 5 2 1 72
MIDE 0 0 1 0 0 0 17
NHAF 83 13 618 74 141 13 60
SHAF 58 7 571 68 78 9 46
BOAS 99 83 170 124 9 5 263
CEAS 7 2 47 12 17 5 67
SEAS 57 35 144 84 12 5 177
EQAS 192 216 276 312 4 4 312
AUST 19 9 133 35 46 18 65
Global 675 240 2420 382 332 26 279
Regional emission estimates of carbon and Hg (1997-2006)
Annual mercury emissions for 1997-2006
Background and Methodology
Mercury in fuels: how does it get there?
Distribution of Hg in fuels? Above and below ground fuels, different biomes.
Hg release during biomass burning: Hg speciation, fire intensities, regional differences (e.g. burn frequency)
Methodology: Hg emission = carbon or CO emissions * EF(Hg)
Mercury Cycling in Forest (Northeast USA)
6.8
17.25.8
0.61.1
2.41.2
HgT Flux(µg m-2 yr -1)
1.4 6.3
1.2 2.4
Courtesy of Prof. Driscoll
Distribution of Hg in Hg pools: Regional differences
Friedli et al. (2008) L 3-9 6 South African savanna
Friedli et al. (2003) S 38 38 Oregon, Wheat 3.06
Mean 3-38 18
Some known limitations of the current approach:
- Limited experimental data on EF(Hg) in general, and specifically in areas with large carbon emissions: Africa, Asia and South America.
- Disagreements about inputs: e.g. C/CO crop and forest contributions (China), C emissions in Siberia, choice of EF(Hg) in TENA.
- Model performance: fuel combustion under Slash and Burn conditions (GFEDv2 underestimates), assumptions in the model (TENA).
- Time frame of comparison is inconsistent.
IMPACT AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
- BMB Hg accounts for 8.2% of all anthropogenic and natural Hg annual emissions to the atmosphere (8200 Mg)
- Hg from BMB is recycled Hg, temporarily stored in vegetation and organic soils, and returned to the global pool by fire, subject
to local deposition and/or long range transport.
- Control of the size of the atmospheric pool long-term will determine BMB emissions.
IMPACT AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS (continued)
- Continued forest destruction has doubly negative impact:source of atmospheric and loss of a Hg sinks.
- BMB is sensitive to climate change: loss of peat and permafrost; increased fire intensity and frequency.
- Agricultural waste burning is not a significant source of Hg.
- Contributions from fires in Hg enriched soil (contaminated or natural) is globally insignificant but may be locally important.
RESEARCH NEEDS:
1. Reduce uncertainties of current methods:EF(Hg): Hg emission measurements in the areas of the largest
carbon emitters: NHAF, SHAF, EQAS, SHAM, SEAS- Hg pools in vegetation and soils, release data.
Carbon emission model: fire detection, burn areas, combustion completeness, fuel speciation, fire dynamics.
Validation: carbon and Hg emission comparisons: among methods and between government statistics.
2. New Science:- comprehensive biogeochemical model for Hg in forests, region specific.
- couple a carbon emission with a Hg emission model.
- use Hg correlations with other available fire data: TAS, OC, BC, etc.
- include fire dynamics available from satellite measurements.
- introduce Hg plume chemistry, align with deposition patterns.
Summary and Conclusions
+ BMB contributes about 8.2 % of all releases to the atmosphere. Largest releases are from tropical and boreal Asia, followed by South America.
+ It is recycled Hg- responds to the size of the global atmospheric pool which are driven by anthropogenic and natural sources.
+ Destruction of forests is doubly detrimental: source and loss of a sink.
+ Available data base is fragmented and limited. Data are particularly scarce from areas with the largest carbon release from BMB.
+ Differences between model and traditional ground-based estimatesavailable from government agencies are still unacceptably large.
+ Emphasis of future work should be on uncertainty reduction in carbon emission and EF(Hg) and improvement of the science understanding of Hg cycling in forests, and coupling it with carbon emissions from fires.
Acknowledgements
- James T. Randerson (PI) of University of California, Irvine, Guido R. van derWerf of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Louis Giglio of Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Maryland, G. James Collatz of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland and Prasad S. Kasibhatla of Duke University for GFEDv2 emission data.
- support from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which sponsored by the National Science Foundation.