Evaluating Prognostic Fire Emissions within the NASA GEOS Earth System Model

An Earth System Model (ESM) is a powerful tool to understand the connections between individual Earth system components and their sensitivities to changing conditions. Presently within the NASA GEOS ESM, fire emissions can be prescribed from observationally-based estimates (e.g., GFED, QFED) or semi-prognostic emissions can be calculated based on local fire weather conditions. The Catchment-CN system within GEOS, which combines the water and energy balances from the Catchment Land Surface Model (LSM) with the dynamic phenology elements of CLMv4.5, includes a prognostic fire parameterization. We will evaluate this prognostic fire parameterization using offline simulations driven by MERRA-2 forcing. We will additionally show results of several simulations of the GEOS Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) coupled with the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) module using fire emissions calculated with the prognostic fire parameterization in Catchment-CN as well as other observationally-based biomass burning emissions estimates.