Publication Abstracts

Marlier et al. 2013

Marlier, M.E., R.S. DeFries, A. Voulgarakis, P.L. Kinney, J.T. Randerson, D.T. Shindell, Y. Chen, and G. Faluvegi, 2013: El Niño and health risks from landscape fire emissions in southeast Asia. Nat. Clim. Change, 3, 131-136, doi:10.1038/nclimate1658.

Emissions from landscape fires affect both climate and air quality1. Here, we combine satellite-derived fire estimates and atmospheric modelling to quantify health effects from fire emissions in southeast Asia from 1997 to 2006. This region has large interannual variability in fire activity owing to coupling between El Niño-induced droughts and anthropogenic land-use change. We show that during strong El Niño years, fires contribute up to 200 µg/m3 and 50 ppb in annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone surface concentrations near fire sources, respectively. This corresponds to a fire contribution of 200 additional days per year that exceed the World Health Organization 50 µg/m3 24-hr PM2.5 interim target and an estimated 10,800 (6,800-14,300)-person (∼ 2%) annual increase in regional adult cardiovascular mortality. Our results indicate that reducing regional deforestation and degradation fires would improve public health along with widely established benefits from reducing carbon emissions, preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ma04800g,
  author={Marlier, M. E. and DeFries, R. S. and Voulgarakis, A. and Kinney, P. L. and Randerson, J. T. and Shindell, D. T. and Chen, Y. and Faluvegi, G.},
  title={El Niño and health risks from landscape fire emissions in southeast Asia},
  year={2013},
  journal={Nature Climate Change},
  volume={3},
  pages={131--136},
  doi={10.1038/nclimate1658},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ma04800g
AU  - Marlier, M. E.
AU  - DeFries, R. S.
AU  - Voulgarakis, A.
AU  - Kinney, P. L.
AU  - Randerson, J. T.
AU  - Shindell, D. T.
AU  - Chen, Y.
AU  - Faluvegi, G.
PY  - 2013
TI  - El Niño and health risks from landscape fire emissions in southeast Asia
JA  - Nat. Clim. Change
JO  - Nature Climate Change
VL  - 3
SP  - 131
EP  - 136
DO  - 10.1038/nclimate1658
ER  -

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