Large-scale fires in western and southeastern states can pump as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a few weeks as some states' entire motor vehicle traffic in a year, according to newly published research by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The paper, titled "Estimates of CO2 From Fires in the United States: Implications for Carbon Management," is being published online in the journal "Carbon Balance and Management." Primary funding for the study was by the National Science Foundation.