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Review of Emissions from Smouldering Peat Fires and Their Contribution to Regional Haze Episodes

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Review of Emissions from Smouldering Peat Fires and Their Contribution to Regional Haze Episodes Yuqi Hu, Nieves Fernandez-Anez, T. E. L. Smith and Guillermo Rein Review of emissions from smouldering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes Article (Published version) (Refereed) Original citation: Hu, Yuqi and Fernandez-Anez, Nieves and Smith, T. E. L. and Rein, Guillermo (2018) Review of emissions from smouldering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 27. pp. 293-312. ISSN 1049-8001 DOI: 10.1071/WF17084 © 2018 IAWF CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/87754/ Available in LSE Research Online: June 2018 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. CSIRO PUBLISHING International Journal of Wildland Fire 2018, 27, 293–312 Review https://doi.org/10.1071/WF17084 Review of emissions from smouldering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes Yuqi HuA, Nieves Fernandez-AnezA,B, Thomas E. L. SmithC,D and Guillermo ReinA,E ADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. BDepartment of Fire Safety and HSE Engineering, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bjørnsons gate 45, 5528, Haugesund, Norway. CDepartment of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK. DDepartment of Geography, King’s College London, London WC2R 2 LS, UK. ECorresponding author. Email: [email protected] Abstract. Smouldering peat fires, the largest fires on Earth in terms of fuel consumption, are reported in six continents and are responsible for regional haze episodes. Haze is the large-scale accumulation of smoke at low altitudes in the atmosphere. It decreases air quality, disrupts transportation and causes health emergencies. Research on peat emissions and haze is modest at best and many key aspects remain poorly understood. Here, we compile an up-to-date inter-study of peat fire emission factors (EFs) found in the literature both from laboratory and from field studies. Tropical peat fires yield larger EFs for the prominent organic compounds than boreal and temperate peat fires, possibly due to the higher fuel carbon content (56.0 vs 44.2%). In contrast, tropical peat fires present slightly lower EFs for particulate matter with diameter #2.5 mm (PM2.5) for unknown reasons but are probably related to combustion dynamics. An analysis of the modified combustion efficiency, a parameter widely used for determining the combustion regime of wildfires, shows it is partially misunderstood and highly sensitive to unknown field variables. This is the first review of the literature on smouldering peat emissions. Our integration of the existing literature allows the identification of existing gaps in knowledge and is expected to accelerate progress towards mitigation strategies. Additional keywords: emission factor, modified combustion efficiency, smoke, wildfires. Received 20 May 2017, accepted 20 March 2018, published online 22 May 2018 Introduction anaerobic, acidic and nutrient-deficient conditions, over cen- Smouldering peat fires propagate horizontally and vertically turies to millennia (Turetsky et al. 2014; IPCC 2006). Peat- through deep layers, leading to the largest fires on Earth (in lands are areas with a naturally accumulated peat layer at the terms of mass of fuel consumed per unit surface) (Rein 2013; surface (peat thickness at least 20 cm if drained, 30 cm if Huang and Rein 2017). They are frequently reported in tropical, undrained), and are the most widespread of all wetland types in temperate and boreal regions including North America, Siberia, the world, covering over 4 000 000 km2 (,3% of the Earth’s the British Isles, the sub-Arctic, south-east Asia and southern land surface) (World Energy Council 2013; Turetsky et al. Africa (for example, Botswana in 2000, Scotland in 2006, the 2014). Peatlands are mainly distributed at northern high USA in 2004, central Russia in 2010 and Indonesia in 2015) latitudes, while tropical peatlands comprise ,11% of global (Rein 2013). Peatlands are an important terrestrial carbon pool, peatland areas (mainly in south-east Asia) (Page et al. 2011). A storing one-third of the world’s soil carbon (500–600 Gt C (1 total of 85% of the global peatland areas are in four countries Gt ¼ 1 Â 109 tonnes)), as much carbon as surface vegetation only: Russia, Canada, the USA and Indonesia (World Energy globally (IPCC 2006; Turetsky et al. 2014). Carbon emissions Council 2013). A full description of the global and regional derived from peat fires are equivalent to 15% of anthropogenic distribution of peatlands can be found in World Energy emissions, creating large perturbations to the global carbon Council (2013). In addition to peatland area, Page et al. cycle (Poulter et al. 2006). (2011) provided the best estimates of mean peat thickness in Peat is a carbon-rich organic soil that contains at least 12% tropical countries (varying from 1.3 to 11 m) and adopted a organic carbon (,20% organic material) with less than 20– defaultbestestimateof0.5mpeatthicknessformostother 35% mineral content (Couwenberg 2009; Turetsky et al. countries in calculating global peat volumes. It is estimated 2014). It is composed of partially decomposed organic mate- that global peat volume is 7093 Gm3 (1Gm3 ¼ 1 Â 109 m3) rial (mostly from plants) accumulated in waterlogged, (Page et al. 2011). Journal compilation Ó IAWF 2018 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND www.publish.csiro.au/journals/ijwf 294 Int. J. Wildland Fire Y. Hu et al. 3-Day Long Flaming Fire 3-Month Long Smouldering Fire Strong Fire Plume Weak Fire Plume Surface Phenomenon Volumetric Phenomenon Fast moving Diffusion Flames Creeping Flameless Reaction Black Smoke (Abundant Soot) Whitish/Yellowish Smoke (Abundant Organic Carbon) Short Superficial Soil Heating Larger Soil Thermal Severity and Longer Residence Time Minimal Soil/Ecosystem Damage Lethal Damage to Soil Properties and Biological Systems Duff Layer Ash Char Peatland Peatland Fig. 1. Schematics of a 3-day-long peat forest flaming fire (left), and the subsequent 3-month-long smouldering peatland fire (right). Because peat accumulation only takes place in water- for haze aerosols (Heil 2007; Black et al. 2016). Dispersal of saturated environments, the bulk of peat in pristine peatlands haze is slow, with the smoke plume tending to accumulate near usually has a very high moisture content and is thus naturally the ground, driven by wind. It can migrate long distances into protected from burning. However, natural droughts (e.g. El populated areas, causing regional haze for long periods of time Nin˜o) or human activities (anthropogenic drainage, peat har- (days or weeks) (Rein 2013). In contrast, flaming wildfires vesting) lower the watertable in peatlands (Turetsky et al. 2014) generate a strong fire plume of black or dark grey colour with a and reduce the moisture content of the peat profile (Kettridge lower concentration of organic carbon particles but a higher et al. 2015), rendering them susceptible to smouldering fires – concentration of soot than smouldering peat fires (Akagi et al. the slow, low-temperature, flameless burning of porous fuels 2011; Drysdale 2011). A comparison between the plumes of the and the most persistent type of combustion phenomena (Rein two types of fire is presented in Fig. 1. 2015). Smouldering peat fires emit substantial quantities of Since 1991, the haze that results from smouldering peat fires aerosols that lead to severe regional haze episodes. However, has been a particularly acute and recurrent problem in south-east information regarding emissions and health effects of regional Asia, especially in 1997, 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2015 (Rein 2013; haze episodes from smouldering peat fires is limited to a handful Koplitz et al. 2016). Because the main source of the south-east of studies. Asia haze is ascribed to peat fires occurring on the islands of The present paper is a review of the emissions from smoul- Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia has been the target of criticism dering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes from affected countries in the Association of South-East Asian for the first time. There are three main objectives: (1) to provide Nations (ASEAN) region (Heil and Goldammer 2001; Glover an overview of past haze episodes evolved from peat fires and to and Jessup 2006; Heil 2007). In addition to south-east Asia, the summarise the potential health effects of haze; (2) to conduct an USA and Russia are among other areas suffering from haze up-to-date and comprehensive compilation of pollutant emission evolving from peat fires. For example, in June 2008, large-scale factors produced from peat fires; (3) to review the origins and to burning of peat deposits occurred in the eastern plains of North verify the applicability of modified combustion efficiency, a Carolina, and the emitted air pollutants caused a haze episode in parameter widely used to evaluate the combustion regime of peat this region (Black et al. 2016). During the summer of 2010, large fire. This analysis will allow identification of knowledge gaps urban regions in Russia were blanketed in smoky haze from and move us forward in developing mitigation strategies. severe peat fires raging outside Moscow, threatening a total population exceeding 15 million (Konovalov et al. 2011). Overview of past haze episodes The effects of haze are diverse. Local regional air quality can This section reviews regional haze episodes that have resulted seriously deteriorate.
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