| Summary: | Fires play a crucial role in several ecosystems. They are routinely used to burn forests in order to accommodate the needs of the expanding population, clear land for agricultural purposes, eliminate weeds and pests, regenerate nutrients in grazing and crop lands and produce energy for cooking and heating purposes. Most of the fires on earth are related to biomass burning in the tropics, although they are not confined to these latitudes. The boreal and tundra regions also experience fires on a yearly basis. The current study examines global fire patterns, Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) and carbon monoxide concentrations during April 9-19, 1994. Recently, global Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data at nadir ground spatial resolution of 1 km are made available through the NASA/NOAA Pathfinder project. These data from April 9-19, 1994 are used to map fires over the earth. In summary, our analysis shows that fires from biomass burning appear to be the dominant factor for increased tropospheric CO concentrations as measured by the MAPS. The vertical transport of CO by convective activities, along with horizontal transport due to the prevailing winds, are responsible for the observed spatial distribution of CO.
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