Emissions from forest fires: Methods of estimation and national results

Emissions from forest fires are recognized to be an important health and environment issue. Fire emissions (FE) include a wide range of gaseous compounds and particles significantly contributing to the atmospheric budgets at local, regional and even global scale. In the last decades, several experimental and modelling studies were carried out to improve knowledge of the atmospheric impact of vegetation fires. FE estimates are affected by several errors and uncertainties; improvements were made possible through new advances in remote sensing, experimental measurements of emission factors and fuel consumption models. In this context, the aim of this chapter is to summarize the state of the research concerning atmospheric FE, highlighting the main methodologies and related uncertainties. In addition, this work presents an overview of historical trends and future scenarios of FE in Italy, starting from the most recent inventories