Fire in the Whole World

Fires account for a significant part of
the interannual variability of the atmospheric
concentrations of many
important trace gases like CO2 and
CH4, but the relative contribution of
emissions from different global regions
is very uncertain. In a study using
satellite and atmospheric data,
biogeochemical modeling, and an inverse
analysis of atmospheric CO
anomalies, van der Werf et al. (p.
73) analyzed how fires across different
regions contributed to global
trace gas variability between 1998
and 2001. Unusually high fire emissions
from Southeast Asia accounted for most of the global signals.
Contributions from Central America, northern boreal regions,
and South America that were underestimated previously
were also important sources.