Evaluating the amount of potential greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires in the area of the Slovak Paradise National Park

Abstract

Presented paper deals with the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires. The investigation was based on the inventory methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from the year 2006. We describe the proposal of our methodology for estimating the required biomass for modelling (using the available literature as well as Sibyla growth simulator), and subsequently we describe the modelling process with fuel models (using FCCS model) as well as the resulting greenhouse gas emissions (using FARSITE and CONSUME model) for the selected site called Krompľa – Tri Kopce in the Slovak Paradise National Park in the cadastral area of Hrabušice, in which fire destroyed an area of 80 ha in the year 2000. From the forest typology point of view, following groups of forest types are dominant at the site: Fagetum dealpinum (Limestone beech forests); Fageto-Abietum (Neutrophilous beech forests), Pinetum dealpinum (Carpathian relict calcicolous Scots pine forests), Fagetum typicum (Limestone beech forests), Fageto-Aceretum (Mixed ravine and slope forests). The results indicate that the conceptions differ in the quantification of biomass available for burning, which was underestimated in the case of TIER 1 conception in comparison to TIER 2 and TIER 3, and also in the quantification of emissions. The emissions produced during the flameless burning phase were underestimated, while the CO2 emissions were slightly overestimated when comparing TIER 2 and TIER 3 approaches. The final assessment of the whole process points out at the problematic issues in the calculations of GHG emissions.