Urgency: Quantifying fluvial carbon losses following the catastrophic 2009 peat swamp forest fires of Kalimantan, Borneo.

热带泥炭地是碳含量极高的生态系统，目前很容易因人类和气候变化而失去稳定。它们含有50-70亿吨碳（占地球土壤中所含碳总量的3%），但土地利用的快速变化（森林砍伐、排水）和随之而来的火灾正在迅速释放这些碳。2009年的旱季（5月至10月）已经被证明是自1997年以来最严重的火灾事件之一。截至2009年10月7日，大火仍在继续燃烧。没有关于这些事件之后河流碳损失的数据。该项目将以之前两个典型的雨季和旱季收集的数据为基础，在旱季大火结束后立即收集河流碳的数据。将使用最新的技术进步收集和分析样本，以充分了解大火后水中的碳源（泥炭或植被）和碳量。

Tropical peatlands are extremely carbon rich ecosystems that are currently vulnerable to destabilisation through human and climate induced changes. They contain 50-70 Gt carbon (3% of all the carbon that is contained within Earth's soils) but rapid land use changes (deforestation, drainage) and consequent fire are rapidly releasing this. The dry season of 2009 (May-October) has already proved to be one of the most intense fire events since 1997. As of the 7th of October 2009, fires continue to burn. No data exist on fluvial carbon losses following such events. This project will build on data already collected during two previous typical rainy and dry seasons by collecting data on fluvial carbon immediately following the end of this dry season's fires. Samples will be collected and analysed using the latest technical advances to gain a full understanding of both the source (peat or vegetation) and quantity of carbon in water following intense fire.