“Spatial distribution of mean carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from biomass fires (x1019 molecules CO cm-2 yr-1)”

I think that our paper is highly cited because there is a need in the tropospheric chemistry community to have an accurate estimate of the annual global emissions of pollutants from the burning of biomass (e.g., trees, grass, agricultural residues), including the seasonal and interannual variations of these emissions.

Our paper describes a new methodology. It is useful to others in two ways. First, our work presents a method to estimate the seasonal and interannual variations of biomass burning using data collected of smoke and fires by instruments aboard satellites. This is timely as observations of fires are becoming more frequent as new instruments are launched into space. These observations will provide us with a wonderful description of fires around the world, but the challenge will be how to interpret the data to develop accurate estimates of the amounts of pollution released into the atmosphere. Second, our paper provides an estimate of the seasonal and interannual variation of emissions from fires for nearly two decades. It is one of the most comprehensive studies to date.

Simply, we did this research out of necessity. We were performing a study of the seasonal and interannual variations of carbon monoxide. Annually, biomass fires release a similar amount of carbon monoxide as from fossil fuel combustion. The timing and intensity of these biomass fires can vary significantly from one year to the next.

Forest and grass fires occur naturally, but the majority of fires are set by humans to clear land. For instance, fires are set in the savannas of Africa to burn off dead grass during the dry season to encourage new growth in the wet season for cattle. Most fires occur in the tropics, but large fires periodically occur in the forests of Europe, Asia, and North America. Though the amount of pollution released from fires is somewhat uncertain, it is definitely enormous. Therefore, it is necessary to know when and how much pollution is being released in order to understand the impact that mans activities are having on our planet (e.g., global warming). In our work, we estimate the "When?" and "How much?" for the 1980s and 1990s.

Bryan Duncan
UMBC - Goddard Earth Science & Technology Center (GEST)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD, USA