Publications [#58496] of Prasad S Kasibhatla

Papers Published

1. Giglio, L. and Pinzon, J. and Kasibhatla, P., Comment on "Seasonal, intraseasonal, and interannual variability of global land fires and their effects on atmospheric aerosol distribution" by Y. Ji and E. Stocker, J. Geophys. Res. (USA), vol. 108 no. D24 (2003), pp. 3 - 1 [2003JD003548] .
   (last updated on 2007/04/09)

   Abstract:
   For original paper see ibid., vol.107, no.D23, p.4697 (2002). On the basis of an analysis of active-fire time series from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) for the 1998-2001 time period, Ji and Stocker (2002) have suggested that biomass-burning fires in the tropics and subtropics exhibit significant intraseasonal oscillations. Specifically, the analysis of Ji and Stocker shows 15- and 25-60 day oscillations superimposed on seasonal and interannual cycles of the fire activity. They have also found that variability of the VIRS fire data is consistent (r ≈ 0.55) with the TOMS aerosol index (AI) during the same period. In this paper, we show that these reported intraseasonal oscillations are most likely artifacts caused by the methodology used by Ji and Stocker to composite the raw fire counts from VIRS. We also comment on the potential impact of the nonuniform latitudinal sampling frequency of VIRS with respect to the analysis of Ji and Stocker. Finally, we point out potential problems related to the use of the TOMS AI data set past the middle of 2000 in the analysis of Ji and Stocker

   Keywords:
   aerosols;atmospheric boundary layer;fires;geophysical signal processing;remote sensing;smoke;