Biomass Burning Emissions Variation from Satellite-Derived Land Cover, Burned Area, and Emission Factors in Vietnam

Abstract

Biomass burning emissions variation was calculated based on differences in satellite-derived products: MODIS and MERIS-based land cover, MODIS and MERIS-based burned area (BA), as well as global and regionally - averaged emission factors. The products and resulting emissions were compared for 3 years (2006–2008) in Vietnam. They were compared at four spatial scales including: (1) country level; (2) region level; (3) land cover; and (4) grid-cell level. For the different products, we especially focused on BA as it is the major input for emission calculations. The BA products were tested for differences using the mean absolute deviation (MAD), Average Absolute Deviation (AAD), and Student’s t-test for significance. Of the different regions, Central Highlands showed the highest AAD in BAs. At a country level, the MERIS BA amounts were relatively higher than the MODIS BAs and especially during peak biomass burning months. We also found that emissions calculations using MERIS LC were relatively lower than those from MODIS LC. While over croplands, the regional emission factors yielded notably higher emissions compared with the global emission factors suggesting that current large-scale studies may be underestimating the biomass burning emissions. We further addressed the potential impact of emissions on urban air quality in Hanoi City through HYSPLIT trajectory modeling.