Just Accepted
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A bottom-up savanna fire fuel consumption inventory and its application to savanna burning in Kafue National Park (Zambia)
Abstract
Background Tropical savannas are the most extensively and frequently burned biome worldwide. To establish accurate emissions inventories for burning in tropical savannas, detailed biomass information is required. Available pan-tropical or global biomass maps currently focus on standing vegetation and largely ignore surface layers, a key component of fuel consumption in the tropics. Aims In this paper we propose a methodology for building a high-resolution regional bottom-up fuel inventory and examine the effectiveness thereof in a local scale case study in Kafue National Park, Zambia Methods We scaled up fuel measurements using drone mounted cameras and Sentinel-2 imagery. We examined the effect of inter-annual burned area variability on emissions. Key results The fuel model performs well for surface level fuel, with an error margin of about ±27%. Accuracy is reduced when mapping more stochastic fuel layers such as coarse woody debris, or fuel layers with a structural component. Conclusions Current pyrogenic emissions models underestimate emissions from Kafue National Park. Implications Timing of burning is an important factor for total burned area as well as for emissions.
WF24121 Accepted 07 February 2025
© CSIRO 2025
