Carbon footprint of forest fires in the Irkutsk region

Abstract

Abstract Climate change due to the “carbon footprint”, representing the totality of all greenhouse gas emissions produced directly or indirectly by humans, animals, organizations, products and all human life processes. The carbon footprint is calculated as the carbon dioxide equivalent emitted from all sources. There is still no single methodology for accounting for the carbon footprint of forest fires. According to the information available in the literature, the carbon footprint from fires is taken into account only in the USA, while in Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia there is no such accounting. The assessment of the carbon footprint has a large error, since burning occurs in vast areas with different rock composition. The aim of this work was to develop a methodology for assessing the carbon footprint on the territory of Russia by taking into account the mass of burned forest materials and calculating gross emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and soot.