Seasonal, intraseasonal, and interannual variability of global land fires and their effects on atmospheric aerosol distribution

Abstract

In order to understand the variability of global land fires and their effects on the distribution of atmospheric aerosols, statistical methods were applied to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) fire products as well as the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol index products for a period of 4 years from January 1998 to December 2001. The fire data in this period manifested a strong annual cycle of land fires in Southeast Asia with a peak in March and in Africa and North and South America with a peak in August. The data also indicated interannual variations in Indonesia and Central America associated with the 1998–1999 El Niño‐Southern Oscillation cycle. The variability of global atmospheric aerosol is consistent with the fire variations over these regions. However, in southwestern Australia, intense fires were recorded in TRMM fire data, but no smoke was observed in the TOMS aerosol product. Excluding the Australian region, the correlation between fire count and TOMS aerosol index is about 0.55 for fire pixels. Empirical orthogonal function analysis (EOF) and singular spectrum analysis methods were used to analyze the TRMM Science Data and Information System pentad fire composite data and TOMS pentad aerosol index data for this 4 year period. The EOF analyses showed contrast between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and also intercontinental transitions in Africa and America. These analyses also identified 25–60 day intraseasonal oscillations that were superimposed on the annual cycles of both fire and aerosol data. The intraseasonal variability of fires showed a similarity of Madden‐Julian oscillation mode.