TRMM fire algorithm, product and applications

The TRMM Science Data and Information System (TSDIS) fire algorithm is a contextual approach that uses the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) thermal channel brightness temperature, visible/near-infrared channel reflectance, and global land type data to retrieve fire pixels. The products include global images of daily hot spots and monthly fire counts at 0.5°×0.5° resolution, as well as text files that details necessary information of all fire pixels. In order to understand the variability of global land fires and their effects on the distribution of atmospheric aerosols, statistical methods were applied to the TSDIS fire products as well as the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol index products for a period of four years from January 1998 to December 2001. The statistical results showed contrast between North and South hemispheres and also inter-continental transitions in Africa and America. These analyses also identified 25-60 day intra-seasonal oscillations that were superimposed on the annual cycles of both fire and aerosol data. The intra-seasonal variability of fires showed similarity of Madden-Julian oscillation mode. The VIRS fire data were also compared with coincident TRMM rainfall data to investigate the interaction between fire and cloud.