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Correlation of burned areas from wildfires with Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) index on a global scale

Paraskevopoulou Konstantina

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Summary

Wildfires are part of the lifecycle of the planet's ecosystems, playing a catalytic role in shaping flora and fauna. As a phenomenon, it can be catastrophic for the environment and human health, having a two-way relationship of deterioration with climate change. Studies predict that under a warming climate, more and more areas of the world will be vulnerable to wildfires.At the same time, wildfires are an important source of air pollution, releasing particulate matter that affect the incoming solar radiation and consequently the Earth's temperature, while also having toxic effects on the human respiratory and cardiovascular system. To quantify aerosols in ambient air the Aerosol Optical Depth index has been created and is widely used to assess their impact.In this study, the aim is to correlate wildfires and aerosols, in the context of air pollution and climate change, for further understanding the consequences and risks. Based on this, the relationship between burned area (BA) from wildfires and the AOD index, was analyzed on a global scale using eighteen years of satellite data.The results, demonstrate a very good correlation between BA and AOD index, especially in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, seasonally. Removing seasonality, the correlation decreases dramatically, since climatic conditions influence the occurrence of fires as well as the increase in AOD. By generating scatter plots for specific regions of the world that are affected by fires over time, the relationship between BA and AOD, shows a positive correlation trend in most cases, however, not as strong a relationship emerges.

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