HR: 10:20h
AN: A32B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Severe Fire Seasons in Sakha, Siberia and the Related Change in Surface Reflectance of Post-fire Burn Scars
AU: * Soja, A J
EM: a.j.soja@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, 21 Langley Blvd MS 420, Hampton, VA 23681-2199 United States
AU: Stackhouse, P W
EM: p.w.stackhouse@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, 21 Langley Blvd MS 420, Hampton, VA 23681-2199 United States
AU: Tchebakova, N
EM: ncheby@forest.akadem.ru
AF: Sukachev Institue of Forestry Siberia Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academic Village, Krasnojarsk, 660036 Russian Federation
AU: Sukhinin, A
EM: boss@ksc.krasn.ru
AF: Sukachev Institue of Forestry Siberia Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academic Village, Krasnojarsk, 660036 Russian Federation
AU: Ivanova, G
EM: green@escapenet.ru
AF: Sukachev Institue of Forestry Siberia Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academic Village, Krasnojarsk, 660036 Russian Federation
AB: This purpose of this talk is twofold: (1) to highlight the severe fires that burned in Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia during the fire seasons from 1998 through 2003; and (2) to discuss the long-term effect of fire on the reflectance of the landscape. In 4 of the 6 years, the fire season was extreme, burning in excess of 1 million hectares and bringing into question the definition of an extreme (out of the normal range) fire season. Not only did these fires release emissions directly into the atmosphere, but the fires altered the albedo of the ecosystems, thus feeding back to the climate system by altering the radiation budget. In this investigation, satellite data are used to define growing season reflectance from fire scars over time. Large fire events that burned in 1986 are traced from 1986 through 1991, and severe fire events that burned in 2002 are analyzed through 2004. Additionally, evidence of the 1986 fire events is found in 2002 imagery. Reflectance consistently decreases for a year after the fire events occurred. Reflectance in band 2 (0.725-1.1 mm) is decreased for at least 4 years following the fire events. However, long-term reflectance increases. Consequently, fire altered ecosystems in Sakha feedback to climate systems for decades following fire events, thus influencing the solar radiation balance.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426, 1610)
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005