Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Version of Record

Publication Date

7-1-2005

Description

This paper investigates the impact of fire on surface albedo and the associated radiative forcing over 56% of continental Australia encompassing the fire-prone northern tropical savanna. Fire-affected areas and albedos are derived for the 2003 fire season using daily Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data. Near-infrared and total shortwave albedos are observed to generally decrease after fire occurrence. Regionally, the total shortwave albedo drops by an average of 0.024, with increasing reductions as the dry season progresses and larger reductions in grasslands than woody savannas. These fire-induced albedo changes exert a positive forcing at the surface that increases from March to November. A mean ‘‘instantaneous’’ shortwave surface radiative forcing of 0.52 Wm -2 is estimated °

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

32

DOI of Published Version

10.1029/2005GL022822

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

American Geophysical Union

Rights

© American Geophysical Union

COinS