Objective
Tropical savanna fires currently comprise approximately two thirds of the global fire budget, making these fires a dominant factor in global carbon emissions, yet little is known how fires have varied through time. This project aims to create a fire history of the East African savanna region over the past 4000 years through the direct determination of levoglucosan in the Kilimanjaro ice core (3º04’S; 37º21’E; 5893 masl, 49 m depth). Levoglucosan is an atmospherically stable molecular tracer of biomass burning which does not degrade when deposited on ice surfaces and is an ideal proxy for quantifying fire activity. The host organization has developed an original method for measuring low concentrations (pg/mL) of levoglucosan in Antarctic ice samples using high-performance liquid chromatography/ electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Preliminary analyses on the Kilimanjaro core demonstrated the repeatability and applicability of the technique for tropical glacier ice. A history of fire emissions provides insight into changes in climate, vegetation, and human impacts. Savanna fires tend to be small and numerous which diminishes the likelihood that a single fire event will skew centennial variability and instead the record responds to major climate trends. The impacts of recent pollution emissions will be investigated through measuring anthropogenic atmospheric particular matter including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in the Kilimanjaro ice for the past 200 yrs. Future climate projections suggest increased aridity in the African savanna region which highlights the necessity of understanding past fire activity to place present variability into perspective. The research will increase international cooperation through integrating a novel technique developed in a world-class laboratory with the only existing African ice core to provide a climate record with direct implications for the global carbon cycle.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry hydrocarbons
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry mass spectrometry
- agricultural sciences agricultural biotechnology biomass
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
00185 Roma
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.