Intercomparison of Global Estimates of CO Emission Derived from Satellite-Based Burnt Biomass Products

The increasing availability of global satellite datasets has driven research towards the development of new algorithms for mapping the areas affected by fires. These products are the only source of information for estimating emissions from fires at the global scale although they often show some discrepancy in the depicted spatial and temporal patterns of fire distribution. This work presents the first results of a comparison exercise of three global datasets of CO emission derived from burned areas estimated from SPOT-VGT, Envisat-ATSR and Terra/Aqua-MODIS data for the year 2003. A common land cover map (GLC2000) and common emission factors were used to derive monthly CO estimates at the resolution of 0.5°x0.5° cell. The comparison was carried out by looking at the spatial and temporal variability of the three products on a cell basis as well as through spatio-temporal syntheses over the globe and over six continental windows. Moreover, we carried out comparisons on the basis of the land cover to highlight whether land cover can explain some of the differences. Preliminary results show a great variability in terms of absolute values of CO; the VGT-based product provides the highest emissions. The best agreement occurs over Africa where VGT, ATSR and MODIS-based products estimated about 303, 203, and 335 Tg of emitted CO in 2003. The greatest disagreement was found for the Northern latitude regions where VGT showed two peaks of CO emissions during the year, in spring and autumn, and the other products one peak around August.

BRIVIO P.A.;  ZAMBRANO C.;  GREGOIRE Jean-Marie;  LIOUSSE C.;  STROPPIANA Daniela;  GUILLAUME B.;  GRANIER C.;  MIEVILLE Aude;  CHIN Mian; 

2009-06-29

ISRSE

JRC49102