The Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN): A high resolution global model to estimate the emissions from open burning

Abstract

The Fire INventory from NCAR version 1.0 (FINNv1) provides daily, 1 kmresolution, global estimates of the trace gas and particle emissions fromopen burning of biomass, which includes wildfire, agricultural fires, andprescribed burning and does not include biofuel use and trash burning.Emission factors used in the calculations have been updated with recentdata, particularly for the non-methane organic compounds (NMOC). Theresulting global annual NMOC emission estimates are as much as a factor of 5greater than some prior estimates. Chemical speciation profiles, necessaryto allocate the total NMOC emission estimates to lumped species for use bychemical transport models, are provided for three widely used chemicalmechanisms: SAPRC99, GEOS-CHEM, and MOZART-4. Using these profiles, FINNv1also provides global estimates of key organic compounds, includingformaldehyde and methanol. Uncertainties in the emissions estimates arisefrom several of the method steps. The use of fire hot spots, assumed areaburned, land cover maps, biomass consumption estimates, and emission factorsall introduce error into the model estimates. The uncertainty in the FINNv1emission estimates are about a factor of two; but, the global estimatesagree reasonably well with other global inventories of biomass burningemissions for CO, CO2, and other species with less variable emissionfactors. FINNv1 emission estimates have been developed specifically formodeling atmospheric chemistry and air quality in a consistent framework atscales from local to global. The product is unique because of the hightemporal and spatial resolution, global coverage, and the number of speciesestimated. FINNv1 can be used for both hindcast and forecast or near-realtime model applications and the results are being critically evaluated withmodels and observations whenever possible. © 2011 Author(s).