Articles | Volume 20, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3803-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3803-2023
Research article
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20 Sep 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 20 Sep 2023

High-resolution data reveal a surge of biomass loss from temperate and Atlantic pine forests, contextualizing the 2022 fire season distinctiveness in France

Lilian Vallet, Martin Schwartz, Philippe Ciais, Dave van Wees, Aurelien de Truchis, and Florent Mouillot

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Cited articles

Andela, N., Morton, D. C., Schroeder, W., Chen, Y., Brando, P. M., and Randerson, J. T.: Tracking and classifying Amazon fire events in near real time, Sci. Adv., 8, eabd2713, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd2713, 2022. 
Arrogante-Funes, F., Aguado, I., and Chuvieco, E.: Global assessment and mapping of ecological vulnerability to wildfires, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2981–3003, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2981-2022, 2022. 
Avitabile, V. and Camia, A.: An assessment of forest biomass maps in Europe using harmonized national statistics and inventory plots, Forest Ecol. Manag., 409, 489–498, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.11.047, 2018. 
Barbero, R., Curt, T., Ganteaume, A., Maillé, E., Jappiot, M., and Bellet, A.: Simulating the effects of weather and climate on large wildfires in France, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 441–454, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-441-2019, 2019. 
Basile, M., Storch, I., and Mikusiński, G.: Abundance, species richness and diversity of forest bird assemblages – The relative importance of habitat structures and landscape context, Ecol. Indic., 133, 108402, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108402, 2021. 
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Co-editor-in-chief
The study covers a relevant contemporary topic (wildfire) and focusses on the recent major European summer of wildfires. The authors demonstrate that the assessment of burned area alone is not enough to fully characterize the impact of fires. Novel methods to assess burned area and above ground biomass losses are described to provide a more informative impact-based characterization of fires.
Short summary
This study analyzes the ecological impact of the 2022 summer fire season in France by using high-resolution satellite data. The total biomass loss was 2.553 Mt, equivalent to a 17 % increase of the average natural mortality of all French forests. While Mediterranean forests had a lower biomass loss, there was a drastic increase in burned area and biomass loss over the Atlantic pine forests and temperate forests. This result revisits the distinctiveness of the 2022 fire season.
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