Biomass Burning and Resulting Emissions in the Northern Territory, Australia

Abstract

The extent of biomass burning in the Northern Territory, Australia, during 1992 (a year of low fire activity) was estimated using NOAA-AVHRR satellite imagery and was subsequently used to calculate the emission of gaseous compounds from biomass burning for that year. A total of 73,729 km2 was determined to have been burnt, representing 5.5% of the total Northern Territory area. The extent of biomass burning in different vegetation units in the Northern Territory was also estimated with eucalypt communities comprising 72% of the total area burnt. An estimated 29.5 x 106 tonnes of biomass was consumed by burning, resulting in the production of an estimated : 1. 11.3 Tg C as carbon dioxide, 2. 1.02 Tg C as carbon monoxide, (3) 5.23 x 10-3 Tg C as total particulate matter, 4. 26.1 x 10-3 Tg N as nitrous oxides, 5. various other trace gases. The calculated release of CO2 in this study accounts for only 41% of the estimated Australian contribution to global emmissions from biomass burning, indicating that the Australian contribution may be overestimted.