Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Place-Based Biochar Production for Ecosystem Restoration and Soil Health
Published on: April 5, 2024
Disentangling the contribution of multiple land covers to fire-mediated carbon emissions in Amazonia during the 2010
Liana Oighenstein Anderson1, Luiz E O C Aragão2, Manuel Gloor3
1National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters São José dos Campos Brazil; Environmental Change Institute University of Oxford Oxford UK; Remote Sensing Division National Institute for Space Research São José dos Campos Brazil.
Abstract:
In less than 15 years, the Amazon region experienced three major droughts. Links between droughts and fires have been demonstrated for the 1997/1998, 2005, and 2010 droughts. In 2010, emissions of 510 ± 120 Tg C were associated to fire alone in Amazonia. Existing approaches have, however, not yet disentangled the proportional contribution of multiple land cover sources to this total. We develop a novel integration of multisensor and multitemporal satellite-derived data on land cover, active fires, and burned area and an empirical model of fire-induced biomass loss to quantify the extent of burned areas and resulting biomass loss for multiple land covers in Mato Grosso (MT) state, southern Amazonia-the 2010 drought most impacted region. We show that 10.77% (96,855 km2) of MT burned. We estimated a gross carbon emission of 56.21 ± 22.5 Tg C from direct combustion of biomass, with an additional 29.4 ± 10 Tg C committed to be emitted in the following years due to dead wood decay. It is estimated that old-growth forest fires in the whole Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have contributed to 14.81 Tg of C (11.75 Tg C to 17.87 Tg C) emissions to the atmosphere during the 2010 fire season, with an affected area of 27,555 km2. Total C loss from the 2010 fires in MT state and old-growth forest fires in the BLA represent, respectively, 77% (47% to 107%) and 86% (68.2% to 103%) of Brazil's National Plan on Climate Change annual target for Amazonia C emission reductions from deforestation.
Related Concept Videos
Responses to Drought and Flooding
Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
Ecological Disturbance
The Carbon Cycle
Global Climate Change
Habitat Fragmentation

