Fire in the Soil and Earth systems: new insights

Only a few decades ago, fire was seen as a factor of ecosystem and soil degradation. However, this idea has been changing over time, and today it is known that fire is an agent present in almost all ecosystems on earth. Wildfires contribute to shaping the landscape and geomorphological and hydrological processes that operate on soil.

Some of the impacts of fire on soils are short-lived while others are stable in the long-term or permanent, due to recurrence. As a result, soils from regions affected by recurring fires have physical, chemical and biological characteristics that determine its functioning as part of the ecosystem.

The objectives of this session are to discuss:

1) The nature of fire as a soil-forming agent.
2) The various impacts that fire has on soil properties and components (ash, physical and chemical properties, nutrient properties, soil moisture, soil temperature, and soil organisms) in various ecosystems (Mediterranean soils, cold regions, tropical regions, peatlands, etc.). Contributions on the impact of fire on liquid and gas phases will be specially considered.
3) The impact of fire on soil geomorphological and hydrological processes, with emphasis on water and sediment connectivity at different scales.
4) The influence of fires on air quality, climate and health.
5) The management of fire-affected areas, highlighting the need to establish protocols based on local conditions, the type of impacts and their severity.
6) The development of new analytical tools and techniques for the study of fire impacts as well as fire emission models and forecasting of fires.
7) The implementation of satellite and surface observations of fires
8) The measurement of emission factors and burning efficiencies for different conditions
9) The socio-economical consequences of natural and anthropogenic biomass burning
10) How to transfer information and knowledge.

If the number and quality of contributions permit, the Conveners consider the possibility of proposing the publication of a special issue in a high-ranked journal.

Support and acknowledgements:
-FUEGORED, Spanish Network on Forest Fire Effects on Soils (http://grupo.us.es/fuegored)
-POSTFIRE Project: Soil quality, erosion control and plant cover recovery under different post-fire management scenarios (http://postfire.weebly.com)
-GEOFIRE Project: Geochemical alterations in fire-affected soils (http://geofireproject.weebly.com)
This session is part of the IBBI, the Interdisciplinary Biomass Burning Initiative of iLEAPS, IGAC and WMO (http://www.mpic.de/forschung/kooperationen/ibbi.html).