Nature Communications (Aug 2018)

Reassessment of pre-industrial fire emissions strongly affects anthropogenic aerosol forcing

  • D. S. Hamilton,
  • S. Hantson,
  • C. E. Scott,
  • J. O. Kaplan,
  • K. J. Pringle,
  • L. P. Nieradzik,
  • A. Rap,
  • G. A. Folberth,
  • D. V. Spracklen,
  • K. S. Carslaw

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05592-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Several lines of evidence suggest that fire activity was much greater in the preindustrial era than currently assumed in climate models. Here the authors show that greater emission of aerosols from fires leads to a substantial reduction in the magnitude of aerosol radiative forcing over the Industrial Era.