Reconstruction Of Paleo-Fire Through Climate And Eco-System Models

This chapter addresses two aspects of paleo-fire and carbon deposits. The first is that the biophysical system in climate determines the ecotype - biomass structure and function, and as a result, the carbon available for release in the atmosphere. The second part defines the relationship between ecosystem structure, weather, and fire behavior - the emission of carbon particulates. Modeling paleo - emissions of carbon from fire requires an understanding of emissions from current fire behavior in current ecosystems. Modeling fire from past ecosystems requires, first, that we can reconstruct the ecosystem, and second, requires that we assume that current models of fire behavior will apply. These key assumptions can be restated as hypotheses: can current modeling capability reproduce paleo-fire? and, can climate models, coupled with ecosystem models and fire models, replicate the spatial patterns of fire emissions?