GFMC: Other Research Programmes (IBFRA, IUFRO etc.)
International Wildland Fire Research Programmes
This GFMC web page has beenre-designed in 2005 and is providing links to international andinterdisciplinary research projects and programmes. Readers are encouraged tosubmit a short text and links to websites missing here:
The BiomassBurning Experiment(BIBEX): Impact of Fire on the Atmosphere and Biosphere
One ofthe core projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)is the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC)project. The overall objectives of IGAC Focus 2 are to understand the chemicalprocessing and transport of gases in the tropical atmosphere, and the role ofterrestrial biosphere- atmosphere trace gas exchanges in regulating atmosphericcomposition. Much of the research in this Focus is directed toward understandingthe effects of human activities, especially land-use change and land-useintensification, on trace gas fluxes and atmospheric chemistry. In the 1990s,with decreasing activities since then, the project Biomass BurningExperiment: Impact of Fire on the Atmosphere and Biosphere (BIBEX)investigated the role and impact of vegetation fires on ecosystems and theatmosphere. For details see the BIBEX website at the Max Planck Institute forChemistry / Global Fire Monitoring Center at:
IntegratedLand Ecosystem Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS)
ILEAPS is the 10 yearland-atmosphere core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme(IGBP). The scientific goal of iLEAPS is toprovide understanding how interacting physical, chemical and biologicalprocesses transport and transform energy and matter through the land-atmosphereinterface. The project studies interactions and feedbacks from the cell level toglobal scale. Times scales range from diurnal to centennial, past to future.iLEAPS encourages international and cross-disciplinary collaboration,particularly involving scientists from the developing countries. TheFire-Land-Atmosphere Regional Ecosystem Studies (FLARES) is addressing the roleof vegetation fires in the Southern Hemisphere and investigating theannual extent and inter-annual variability of vegetation fires in the SouthernHemisphere, the impact of fire management on fire occurrence and fire emissions,characterization of gaseous and particulate emissions from these fires, and howthese emissions affect atmospheric oxidant balance, radiation balance, and cloudproperties.
Fire-Land-Atmosphere Modeling and Evaluation for Southeast Asia (FLAMES) Project
The Fire-Land-Atmosphere Modeling and Evaluation for Southeast Asia (FLAMES) Project is a collaboration between researchers in the Departments of Geography and Statistics at The Ohio State University. The project is funded by NASA’s Research Opportunities for Space and Earth Science as part of the Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program and is endorsed by the Global Land Project, a joint research agenda of the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Scientists and policy makers have become increasingly concerned about the implications of the consistent brown haze covering Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in terms of human health and climate change. The emergence of this haze is due to increased atmospheric concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols, or small airborne particles, over the region. A large portion of these carbonaceous aerosols is generated by anthropogenic activities, including both slash-and-burn agriculture and fossil fuel combustion. This research project seeks to develop methodology to determine the relative contribution of these two types of emissions to the total aerosol burden over the region.
FIREPARADOX
In 2005a new international and interdisciplinary forest fire research programme hasbeen granted by the European Commission. With the participation of 31institutions from 12 countries the project FIRE PARADOX – An InnovativeApproach of Integrated Wildland Fire Management Regulating the Wildfire Problemby the Wise Use of Fire: Solving the Fire Paradox will be conducted between2006 and 2009:
RegionalProject Centre PHOENIX
In May2005, the European Forest Institute (EFI) approved the creation of the RegionalProject Centre PHOENIX (2005-2009) on “Fire Ecology and Post-FireManagement”, a consortium of EFI member institutions and other relevantpartners carrying out specific research on fire ecology and post-fire management.The consortium currently includes 12 members from Mediterranean countries.
EUFIRELAB
EUFIRELAB is a wall-less Laboratory for Wildland Fire Sciences and Technologies in theEuro-Mediterranean Region.
IS4FIRES
The main objectives of Integrated Monitoring and Modelling System for Wildland Fires is to develop an Integrated Monitoring and Modelling System (IS) for wildland fires. The project will also organize a controlled forest fire dispersion measurement campaign.
InternationalOrganizations Facilitating Cooperative Research
Threeother international research organizations have included a fire researchcomponent which is closely linked to the IGBP projects and the Global FireMonitoring Center:
- The International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA)
- The International Union of Forestry Research Associations (IUFRO)
- CIFOR Fire Research Website
