The CharXive Challenge. Regulation of global carbon cycles by vegetation fires

TL;DR

This paper explores how vegetation fires influence global carbon cycles, proposing that thermoconversion of biomass affects carbon distribution and that human fire suppression may increase atmospheric CO2, highlighting strategic challenges in managing global carbon.

Contribution

It introduces the CharXive Challenge framework, linking vegetation fires to global carbon regulation and emphasizing the impact of human fire suppression on atmospheric CO2 levels.

Findings

Vegetation fires play a significant role in sequestering atmospheric CO2.

Suppression of fires by humans may lead to increased atmospheric carbon.

The CharXive Challenge identifies key strategic issues in global carbon management.

Abstract

It is an open, but not unanswerable, question as to how much atmospheric CO2 is sequestered globally by vegetation fires. In this work I conceptualise the question in terms of the general CharXive Challenge, discuss a mechanism by which thermoconversion of biomass may regulate the global distribution of carbon between reservoirs, show how suppression of vegetation fires by human activities may increase the fraction of carbon in the atmospheric pool, and pose three specific CharXive Challenges of crucial strategic significance to our management of global carbon cycles.