Fire Phenomena and the Earth System: An Interdisciplinary Guide to Fire Science -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Part 1 Fire Behaviour -- 1 An Introduction to Combustion in Organic Materials -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Reactive Zone -- 1.3 Fuel Generation -- 1.4 Summary -- References -- 2 Smouldering Fires and Natural Fuels -- 2.1 Overview -- 2.2 Introduction -- 2.3 Smouldering vs Flaming Combustion -- 2.4 Ignition and Extinction -- 2.5 Behaviour of a Smouldering Wildfire -- 2.6 Fate of Organic Matter -- 2.7 Depth of Burn -- 2.8 Damage to the Soil -- 2.9 Case Study: 2006 Rothiemurchus Peat Fire -- 2.10 Smouldering Fires at the Global Scale -- 2.11 Feedbacks in the Climate System -- 2.12 Concluding Remarks -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 3 Experimental Understanding of Wildland Fires -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 An Activity in Constant Evolution -- 3.3 The Different Scales Involved in Wildland Fires -- 3.4 Micro-Scale Experiments -- 3.5 Bench-Scale Laboratory Experiments -- 3.6 Large-Scale Laboratory Experiments -- 3.7 Field-Scale Experiments -- 3.8 Conclusions -- 3.9 Acknowledgements -- References -- 4 Wildfire Behaviour and Danger Ratings -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Factors Influencing Wildland Fire Behaviour -- 4.3 Fuel Types and Models -- 4.4 Mathematical Fire Behaviour Modelling -- 4.5 Fire Danger Rating Systems -- 4.6 Concluding Remarks -- References -- 5 Satellite Remote Sensing of Fires -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Satellite Remote Sensing Systems -- 5.3 Satellite Remote Sensing of Fire -- 5.4 Summary -- References -- Part 2 Fire and the Biosphere -- 6 Understanding Fire Regimes and the Ecological Effects of Fire -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Fire Regimes, Plant Functional Traits and Stable States -- 6.3 Conclusions -- References.

7 Plant Adaptations to Fire: an Evolutionary Perspective -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Fire Impacts and Fire Regime -- 7.3 Surviving Fire: the Evolution of Fire Traits -- 7.4 Enhancing Fire -- 7.5 Incidental Impacts of Fire: Do Fire Regimes Influence Speciation Rates? -- 7.6 The Phylogenetic Perspective on the Dating of Fire -- 7.7 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 8 Fire and the Land Surface -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Direct Effects of Fire on Vegetation Cover, Rock and Soil -- 8.3 Indirect Effects of Fire -- 8.4 Longer-term Effects on Biomass and Carbon Fluxes -- 8.5 Conclusions and Outlook -- References -- 9 Identification of Black Carbon in the Earth System -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Black Carbon in the Atmospheric Sciences -- 9.3 Black Carbon in Terrestrial and Oceanic Systems -- 9.4 Recent Developments Involving Black Carbon -- 9.5 Consequences for Method Development -- 9.6 Interdisciplinary Comparison of Methods to Measure Black Carbon in Soils and Sediments -- 9.7 Perspectives -- References -- Part 3 Fire and the Earth's Past -- 10 Identifying Past Fire Events -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Charcoal -- 10.3 Soot and Black Carbon -- 10.4 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons -- 10.5 Physical/Ecological Changes and Past Fire Events -- 10.6 Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 11 A 21 000-Year History of Fire -- 11.1 Introduction: Sedimentary Charcoal Records of Global Fire Activity -- 11.2 The Global Charcoal Database and Reconstructing the Past 21 000 Years of Earth's Fire History -- 11.3 Global Fire Activity from the Last Glacial Maximum until Present -- 11.4 Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 12 A 450-Million-Year History of Fire -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 The Fundamental Requirements of Fire -- 12.3 Ignition: Lightning, Sparks, Volcanoes and Asteroids.

12.4 Air: Ancient Atmospheric Oxygen Concentration and the Flammability of our Planet -- 12.5 Fuel: Past Vegetation Changes and Fire -- 12.6 Summary -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Part 4 Fire and the Earth System -- 13 Evaluating the Atmospheric Impact of Wildfires -- 13.1 Introduction -- 13.2 Constructing Emission Inventories for Atmospheric Chemistry Modelling -- 13.3 Spatial and Temporal Variability of Fire Emissions -- 13.4 Impact of Fires on Meteorology -- 13.5 Fires and Air Quality -- 13.6 Understanding the Interactions Between Fires and Climate Change -- 13.7 Towards an Integrated Analysis of Fire Impacts -- References -- 14 The Dependence of Flame Spread and Probability of Ignition on Atmospheric Oxygen: an Experimental Investigation -- 14.1 Introduction -- 14.2 Rate of Spread of Small Test Fires as a Function of Oxygen and Moisture Content -- 14.3 Probability of Ignition of a Spreading Flame -- 14.4 Comparison with Other Studies -- 14.5 Conclusion: Implications for Past Atmospheric Oxygen -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 15 Fire Feedbacks on Atmospheric Oxygen -- 15.1 Introduction -- 15.2 The Oxygen Puzzle -- 15.3 Feedbacks on Atmospheric Oxygen -- 15.4 Why do Existing Models Disagree? -- 15.5 How Strong are Fire Feedbacks? -- 15.6 Changing the Nature of Fire Feedbacks -- 15.7 Discussion -- 15.8 Conclusion -- References -- 16 Biochar and Carbon Sequestration -- 16.1 Introduction -- 16.2 What is Biochar and its Purpose? -- 16.3 Production of Biochar -- 16.4 Properties of Biochar and their Impact on its Function -- 16.5 Carbon Mitigation Potential and Biochar Stability -- 16.6 Challenges to Biochar Deployment -- 16.7 Conclusions -- References -- Index -- Supplemental Images.