The Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4) Burned Area Data Set

We describe major enhancements to the burned area component of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4), which now provides global, daily burned area observations at 0.25-degree spatial resolution from mid-2000 through the present. Cross-calibration of active fire observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) allowed the data set to be extended back to mid-1995, though at a reduced monthly temporal resolution. We then discuss the spatially-explicit uncertainty estimates accompanying our data set, and the use of these estimates within atmospheric and biogeochemical models. Lastly, we assess the interannual variability and long-term trends in global and regional burned area over the past 16 years. Our findings included a gradual decrease of 2.0 Mha/yr in NH Africa since 2000, a gradual increase of 2.3 Mha/yr in SH Africa, also since 2000, and a rapid though inconsistent decrease of approximately 5.5 Mha/yr from 2001 through 2011 in Australia, followed by a major upsurge in 2012 that exceeded the annual area burned in at least the previous 14 years.