The paper provides a critical analysis and synthesis of over
a decade's research on the emissions from vegetation fires and
domestic biomass burning. Biomass burning has been established
as one of the main human impacts on atmospheric composition,
releasing vast 
amounts
of trace gases and aerosols. The information in this paper
establishes a benchmark for the assessment of atmospheric
pollution from biomass burning and is used extensively as input
for atmospheric chemistry modeling.
Does
it describe a new discovery or a new methodology that's useful
to others?
Not really. Its objective is rather to analyze and synthesize
existing data using a consistent framework of definitions and
methodologies.
Could
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?
Vegetation fires in forests and savannas, as well as the
domestic use of fuelwood, consume vast amounts of biomass every
year. These fires release air pollutants (trace gases and smoke
aerosols) in amounts that rival those from fossil fuel burning,
and thus represent a major human impact on the atmospheric
environment. This paper brings together the data on emissions
from biomass burning that have come out of over a decade of
international research, and puts them into a format useful for
assessing their impact.
How
did you become involved in this research?
I have been involved in research on the atmospheric impact of
biomass burning ever since I noticed evidence of smoke in air
samples taken in the middle of the Atlantic near the Equator on
an oceanographic cruise in 1980. This convinced me that
vegetation burning in the tropics had a global impact. I have
since participated in and led numerous field campaigns to
investigate this phenomenon.
