A pan-tropical cascade of fire driven by El Niño/Southern Oscillation

Yang Chen*, Douglas C. Morton, Niels Andela, Guido R. Van Der Werf, Louis Giglio, James T. Randerson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a pronounced influence on year-to-year variations in climate 1 . The response of fires to this forcing 2 is complex and has not been evaluated systematically across different continents. Here we use satellite data to create a climatology of burned-area and fire-emissions responses, drawing on six El Niño and six La Niña events during 1997-2016. On average, reductions in precipitation and terrestrial water storage increased fire emissions in pan-tropical forests by 133% during and following El Niño as compared with La Niña. Fires peaked in equatorial Asia early in the ENSO cycle when El Niño was strengthening (Aug-Oct), before moving to southeast Asia and northern South America (Jan-Apr), Central America (Mar-May) and the southern Amazon (Jul-Oct) during the following year. Large decreases in fire occurred across northern Australia during Sep-Oct of the second year from a reduced fuel availability. Satellite observations of aerosols and carbon monoxide provided independent confirmation of the spatiotemporal evolution of fire anomalies. The predictable cascade of fire across different tropical continents described here highlights an important time delay in the Earth system's response to precipitation redistribution. These observations help to explain why the growth rate of atmospheric CO2 increases during El Niño 3 and may contribute to improved seasonal fire forecasts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)906-911
Number of pages6
JournalNature Climate Change
Volume7
Issue number12
Early online date27 Nov 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

Funding

Y.C., N.A. and J.T.R. received funding support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF3269). J.T.R. received additional support from NASA’s Terrestrial Hydrology, Interdisciplinary Science and Carbon Monitoring System programs. D.M. was supported by NASA’s Interdisciplinary Science and Carbon Monitoring System Programs. G.v.d.W. was supported by the European Research Center (grant 280061). We thank the NOAA State of the Ocean website, the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center, the NOAA ESRL Physical Sciences Division and the NASA MEaSUREs Program for providing data used in this analysis. Y.C., N.A. and J.T.R. received funding support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF3269). J.T.R. received additional support from NASA's Terrestrial Hydrology, Interdisciplinary Science and Carbon Monitoring System programs. D.M. was supported by NASAs Interdisciplinary Science and Carbon Monitoring System Programs. G.v.d.W. was supported by the European Research Center (grant 280061). We thank the NOAA State of the Ocean website, the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center, the NOAA ESRL Physical Sciences Division and the NASA MEaSUREs Program for providing data used in this analysis.

FundersFunder number
European Research Center280061
NASA’s Interdisciplinary Science and Carbon Monitoring System Programs
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationGBMF3269

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'A pan-tropical cascade of fire driven by El Niño/Southern Oscillation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this