Doubling of annual ammonia emissions from the peat fires in Indonesia during the 2015 El Niño

Simon Whitburn (1) , Martin van Damme (1) , Lieven Clarisse (1) , Solène Turquety (2) , Cathy Clerbaux (3, 1) , Pierre-François Coheur (1)

1 Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique
2 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
3 TROPO - LATMOS

In the autumn of 2015, thousands of square kilometers of forest and peatlands in Indonesia went up in flames. Among the primary species emitted by fires, ammonia (NH₃) is of special relevance for air quality. Here we derive daily and total NH₃ emission fluxes over the affected area using satellite measurements for the years 2008–2015. The 2015 fires emitted an estimated 1.4–8.2 Tg of NH₃ (with a maximum of 0.06–0.33 Tg d⁻¹). On an annual basis, the 2015 NH₃ emissions are a factor 2–3 larger than in the previous 7 years. We derive NH₃ emission factors for peat soils, which are found to be 2.5–8 times lower than those used in the GFASv1.2 emission inventory but in excellent agreement with those reported in other recent studies. Finally, we estimate that 3.28 × 109 m³ peat soil was consumed during these 2015 fires, corresponding to an average burn depth of 39 cm.

Mots clés: fires; NH₃; peatlands; IASI

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de l'environnement

Simon Whitburn, Martin van Damme, Lieven Clarisse, Solène Turquety, Cathy Clerbaux, et al.. Doubling of annual ammonia emissions from the peat fires in Indonesia during the 2015 El Niño. Geophysical Research Letters, 2016, 43 (20), pp.11,007-11,014. ⟨10.1002/2016GL070620⟩. ⟨insu-01375904⟩