Long-lasting Fire Danger Despite CO2 Removal and Its Implication on the Global Carbon Budget

Seminar by Dr. Hyojeong Kim from Yonsei University

14 November 2024
KST 15:00 – 16:00

The Seminar is being held in Room 1010 (Jasmin) – Integrated mechanical engineering building. Click here for the campus map.

Enhanced fire-prone weather and the resulting increase in fire activity under greenhouse gas warming can significantly disturb the local and global carbon budget. However, quantitative understanding of fire-induced carbon emissions under varying greenhouse gas levels remains insufficient, and whether fire weather could be returned by negative emission has not yet been assessed. In this study, we show fire weather responses in CO2 removal experiments and estimate their potential carbon emissions based on the observed relationship between fire weather and fire carbon emissions. The results highlight that enhanced fire danger under doubled CO2 concentration could contribute to an ~50% increase in fire emissions during fire seasons. The elevated fire danger cannot be restored instantaneously by CO2 reduction due primarily to prolonged dry condition in the atmosphere associated with hysteresis of climate change to CO2 level. Enhanced fire-prone weather in 68.1% of regions on the globe is projected to contribute to extra CO2 emission, emphasizing that additional socio-economic damages may occur by enhanced fire activity even under global cooling by negative emissions, unless proper management practices are implemented.