Abstract. Biomass burning plays a significant role in air pollution and climate change.
In this study, we used a method based on fire radiative energy (FRE) to
develop a biomass burning emission inventory for China from 2003 to 2017.
Daily fire radiative power (FRP) data derived from 1 km MODIS Thermal
Anomalies/Fire products (MOD14/MYD14) were used to calculate FRE and
combusted biomass. Available emission factors were assigned to four biomass
burning types: forest, cropland, grassland, and shrubland fires. The farming
system and crop types in different temperate zones were taken into account in
this research. Compared with traditional methods, the FRE method was found to
provide a more reasonable estimate of emissions from small fires. The
estimated average annual emission ranges, with a 90 % confidence
interval, were 91.4 (72.7–108.8) Tg CO2 yr−1, 5.0
(2.3–7.8) Tg CO yr−1, 0.24
(0.05–0.48) Tg CH4 yr−1, 1.43
(0.53–2.35) Tg NMHC yr−1, 0.23
(0.05–0.45) Tg NOx yr−1, 0.09
(0.02–0.17) Tg NH3 yr−1, 0.03
(0.01–0.05) Tg SO2 yr−1, 0.04
(0.01–0.08) Tg BC yr−1, 0.27 (0.07–0.49) Tg OC yr−1, 0.51
(0.19–0.84) Tg PM2.5 yr−1, 0.57 (0.15–1.05) Tg
PM10 yr−1, where NMHC, BC, and OC are nonmethane hydrocarbons,
black carbon, and organic carbon, respectively. Forest fires are
determined to be the primary contributor to open fire emissions, accounting
for 45 % of the total CO2 emissions (average 40.8 Tg yr−1).
Crop residue burning ranked second place with a large portion of 39 %
(average 35.3 Tg yr−1). During the study period, emissions from forest
and grassland fires showed a significant downward trend. Crop residue
emissions continued to rise during 2003–2015 but dropped by 42 % in
2015–2016. Emissions from shrubland were negligible and little changed.
Forest and grassland fires are concentrated in northeastern China and
southern China, especially in the dry season (from October to March of the
following year). Plain areas with high crop yields, such as the North China
Plain, experienced high agricultural fire emissions in harvest seasons. Most
shrubland fires were located in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces. The
resolution of our inventory (daily, 1 km) is much higher than previous
inventories, such as GFED4s and GFASv1.0. It could be used in global and
regional air quality modeling.