The South African Weather Service issues on an annual basis numerous warnings on veld/bush fires that have the potential to cause significant damage to the environment and infrastructure. These fires are not only a South African problem, they are also an international hazard.
Prof Paul Beukes, Prof Pieter van Zyl and Dr Micky Josipovic of the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Group of the North-West University (NWU), together with researchers from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Tampere University of Technology, conducted ground-breaking research on the implications that veld fires have on the climate and on humans.
This research was recently published in Nature Geoscience, an international high-impact journal.
“We are extremely happy about being published in such a high-impact journal,” says Prof Beukes. “This goes to show that the research conducted at the NWU is on par with our international counterparts.”
More on the research
This research was conducted over five years at the Welgegund Research Station approximately 25 km from Potchefstroom.
According to Prof Beukes veld fires are one of the largest sources of atmospheric gas pollutants and fine particles (typically smaller than 1 µm, i.e. 1/1000 of 1 mm). He adds that these fine particles can absorb or scatter radiation and serve as nuclei for condensation to form clouds, and therefore are also important in the climate change debate.
“These particles don’t only have an impact on climate change, but can also cause harm when they penetrate deep into the human respiratory system,” adds Prof Beukes.
The study found that on average the mass of fine particles more than doubles within three hours in atmospheric plumes emitted by veld/bush fires. According to Prof Beukes this significant observation, which affects the scientific understanding of air quality, human health impacts and climate change, has never been reported before.
“The size distribution of fine particles in veld/bush fire plumes were also evaluated, which proved that current climate or air quality models do not use the correct size distribution to accurately predict impacts,” concludes Prof Beukes.
