Amazonian Fire Events Disturbed The Global Carbon Cycle: A study from 2019 Amazon wildfire using Google Earth Engine

An unprecedented number of wildfire events during 2019 throughout Brazilian Amazon has caught global attention due to its massive extension and the associated loss in the Amazonian forest- an ecosystem on which the whole world depends. Such devastating wildfire in Amazon has strongly hampered the global carbon cycle and significantly reduced forest productivity. In this study, we have quantified such loss in forest productivity in terms of Gross primary productivity (GPP) using a comparative approach from Google Earth Engine. In total 12 wildfire spots have been identified based on its fire extension over the Brazilian amazon and quantified the loss in productivity between 2018 and 2019. MODIS GPP and MODIS Burned Area satellite imageries with the revisit time of 8-days and 30-days respectively have been used for this study. Interesting and significant outcomes have been found within this study after final processing. We have observed that maximum fire events during 2019 in compared to 2018 does not hamper the natural annual trend of GPP of the Amazonian Ecosystem. However, a significant drop in forest productivity in terms of GPP has been observed. All 11 sites have been recorded with GPP loss that ranging from 18.88 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹ to 120.11 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹ except site 3. Such drastic loss in GPP supports that during 2019 fire events, all these sites acted as a carbon source rather than a carbon sink sites that were directly humped the global carbon cycle and terrestrial CO₂ fluxes. So it has been assumed that these findings will suit other Amazonian wildfire sites and also for the tropical forest ecosystem. We hope this study will provide significant contributions to the global carbon cycle, terrestrial ecosystem studies, sustainable forest management, and climate change in contemporary science.