Global Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Vegetation Fire as Determined from Satellite Observations.

Vegetation fires occur world-wide, all year round and inject enormous amounts of trace gases and particles into the atmosphere. Nonetheless, there is still great uncertainty as to the global spatial and temporal distribution of vegetation fires. Twenty one months of global, daily, daytime satellite data at 1 km resolution, from april 1992 to December 1993 have been processed to give the positions of active vegetation fires. The first twelve months of the period are presented here. This is the first time that such a global study has been carried out using a long time series dataset and a single processing technique. The dataset and results discussed provide much improved information on the spatial variability and the seasonality of vegetation fires. They will be of use in the global mapping and modelling of emissions due to biomass burning as well as in the study of the role of fire in land cover maintenance and change. we show that half of the fires detected were on the African continent and over 705 within the tropical belt. Over 6% of the earth's surface was affected by fire during the 12 month period, of which savanna grasslands accounted for more than one third. Broadleaf forest and croplands were the other vegetation types most affected.

DWYER Edward;  PINNOCK Simon;  GREGOIRE Jean-Marie;  PEREIRA Jose Miguel; 

1998-09-21

JRC16890

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC16890,