Analysis of wildfires and associated emissions during the recent strong ENSO phases in Southern Africa using multi-source remotely-derived products

Abstract

In southern Africa, drier conditions are more pronounced during the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years, triggering wildfire activity and extreme drought conditions which, individually or together, lead to loss of crop productivity, deaths of livestock and wildlife, famine, degraded ecosystems, water quality and quantity. However, the fire characteristics in relation to the emissions from biomass burning and surface properties are only examined to a limited extent in the literature, especially in Africa, where anthropogenic activities largely determine the fire activity. This study uses the available data from multi-source remote sensing platforms to (1) analyse the spatial distribution of wildfires and associated emissions during strong El Niño (2015/2016) and La Niña (2010/2011) phases in southern Africa, and (2) examine the effects of the severe El Niño and La Niña years on the relationship between the emission parameters, vegetation parameters and climatic parameters. Generally, the results suggest more emissions from the wildfire in the El Niño phase than that of the La Niña. Overall, the Pearson’s correlation clearly shows the influence and the relationship between the climate parameters themselves and also with emission parameters.