A global map of burnt vegetation at 1km resolution for the year 2000 derived from SPOT VGT data

Description

Over large regions of the globe, emissions from biomass burning are known to contribute significantly to the injection of “pollutants” into the atmosphere, impacting on the radiation balance and on the acidification of precipitation. Biomass burning is also an important source of aerosols to the atmosphere, with direct impact on the properties of the atmosphere such as absorbing or reflecting solar radiation. Biomass burning, therefore, has an impact on the radiation balance. Moreover, vegetation fires have a direct impact on the capacity of a given ecosystem to act as a sink of carbon dioxide.