EROSINK

Wildland fires play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle, releasing annually ~2.1 Pg of C into the atmosphere in the form of CO2, other greenhouse gases and aerosols. Their net effect on the C cycle, however, goes beyond emissions and involves many other interacting processes that are yet neither fully understood nor quantified. 

A potentially significant, but currently unexplored mechanism by which fire affects the C cycle is through its impact on soil erosion.  Wildland fires can trigger and greatly increase soil and carbon erosion by water in the first months or years after fire, up to several orders of magnitude as compared to pre-fire conditions.

Therefore, if the burial and associated stabilization of eroded C, together with the recovery of net primary production and soil organic carbon in the eroded landscape, exceed the C losses during mobilization, soil C erosion could act as a C sink mechanism.

This project aims at assessing the potential for post-fire erosion to act as a carbon sink mechanism. To this end, we will follow an integrated field, laboratory and modelling approach to test the working hypotheses

2024-2027 | EROSINK – Post fire soil erosion as a carbon sink mechanism (PID2023-146991NA-I00). Call for Knowledge Generation Projects. Funding institution: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spanish Government). Duration: 36 months. Funding: 155,000€. Principal Investigator: Antonio Girona-García.

2023-2027 | CAPTIVE – Carbon fate in post-fire environments (RYC2021-031262-I). Ramón y Cajal Project . Funding institution: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spanish Government). Duration: 36 months. Funding: 42,000 €. Principal Investigator: Antonio Girona-García.

Girona-García, A.; Vieira, D.; Doerr, S.; Panagos, P.; Santín, C. 2024. Into the unknown: The role of post-fire soil erosion in the carbon cycle. Global Change Biology 30 (6):  e17354. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17354.

2024 | Global database on post-fire soil organic carbon erosion rates.