Knowra Biomass burning Biomass burning Biomass burning is the combustion of living or recently living plant material, whether ignited naturally or by human activity. It releases heat, gases, and particles, and can reshape ecosystems and atmospheric composition.
Fire triangle : A model describing fire as requiring fuel, oxygen, and heat. Plant fuel, oxygen, and ignition conditions jointly determine whether biomass burns.
Biomass burning emissions : Gases and particles released when plant material burns. These emissions connect individual fires to atmospheric chemistry and exposure.
Prescribed burning : The deliberate use of fire under planned conditions to meet land-management objectives. Managers apply controlled biomass burning to reduce fuels or maintain ecosystems.
Fossil fuel combustion : The burning of coal, petroleum, or natural gas to release energy. Unlike biomass burning, it releases carbon stored in geological deposits.
Combustion : A chemical reaction in which a fuel reacts with an oxidant, releasing energy. Biomass burning is combustion whose fuel is plant material.
Black carbon : A light-absorbing component of soot produced by incomplete combustion. Fire-derived black carbon warms the atmosphere and darkens snow when deposited.
Slash-and-burn agriculture : A farming method that clears vegetation by cutting and burning it before cultivation. It is a direct agricultural use of biomass burning to open fields and add ash.
Peat fire : A fire that burns accumulated partially decomposed organic matter in waterlogged soils. Peat fires consume soil organic matter, unlike fires confined mainly to vegetation.
Pyrolysis : The thermal decomposition of material in the absence of sufficient oxygen for complete combustion. Heating vegetation before or during a fire creates gases, char, and other products.
Tropospheric ozone : Ozone formed in the lower atmosphere through reactions involving pollutants and sunlight. Fire emissions supply precursors that can generate ozone downwind.
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