The impacts of recent drought on fire, forest loss, and regional smoke emissions in lowland Bolivia

Recent drought conditions in lowland Bolivia have been identified as the dominant factor influencing interannual fire variability, with human activities potentially amplifying fire during these periods. A study focusing on Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (NK) found that while fires within NK were largely confined to the Cerrado and seasonally inundated wetland biomes, drought conditions significantly impacted fire activity, forest loss, and smoke emissions in the region. The research utilized multiple data sources, including MODIS active fire products, Global Fire Weather Database, land cover and forest loss data, and regional extinction coefficients (Bext) derived from visibility measurements. These findings suggest that Bext can serve as a longer-term proxy for regional fire emissions, highlighting the need to consider both human activities and drought in future projections of southern Amazonian fire dynamics, which have implications for carbon emissions and global climate.

Heyer, J. P., Power, M. J., Field, R. D., & van Marle, M. J. E. (2018). The impacts of recent drought on fire, forest loss, and regional smoke emissions in lowland Bolivia. Biogeosciences, 15(14), 4317–4331. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4317-2018