Fire–precipitation interactions amplify the quasi-biennial variability in fires over southern Mexico and Central America

Liu, Yawen; Qian, Yun; Rasch, Philip J.; Zhang, Kai; Leung, Lai-yung Ruby; Wang, Yuhang; Wang, Minghuai; Wang, Hailong; Huang, Xin; Yang, Xiu-Qun

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

Research article

|

12 Mar 2024

Research article |

| 12 Mar 2024

Fire–precipitation interactions amplify the quasi-biennial variability in fires over southern Mexico and Central America

Yawen Liu, Yun Qian, Philip J. Rasch, Kai Zhang, Lai-yung Ruby Leung, Yuhang Wang, Minghuai Wang, Hailong Wang, Xin Huang, and Xiu-Qun Yang

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024-supplement

Data sets

Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Climate Data Record (CDR), Version 1.3 (Daily) Robert Adler, Jian-Jian Wang, Mathew Sapiano, George Huffman, David Bolvin, Eric Nelkin, and NOAA CDR Program https://doi.org/10.7289/V5RX998Z

CRU TS v. 4.06 CRU (Climatic Research Unit) https://crudata.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/

tavgM_2d_aer_Nx: MERRA-2 monthly (p-coord, 0.625x0.5L42) Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/FH9A0MLJPC7N

Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) G. Huffman, D. Bolvin, D. Braithwaite, K. Hsu, R. Joyce, and P. Xie https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/imerg

CALIPSO Lidar Level 3 Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles, All Sky Data, Standard V4-20 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/CAL_LID_L3_Tropospheric_APro_AllSky-Standard-V4-20

Climate Indices: Monthly Atmospheric and Ocean Time Series Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) https://psl.noaa.gov/data/climateindices/list/

NCEP/DOE Reanalysis II Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html

Global Fire Emissions Database, Version 4.1s (GFEDv4.1s) J. T. Randerson, G. R. van der Werf, L. Giglio, G. J. Collatz, and P. S. Kasibhatla https://www.globalfiredata.org/

MODIS/Terra Gross Primary Productivity 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 S. Running, Q. Mu, and M. Zhao https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD17A2H.061

Model code and software

The NCAR Command Language NCAR https://doi.org/10.5065/D6WD3XH5

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Short summary

Fire management has long been a challenge. Here we report that spring-peak fire activity over southern Mexico and Central America (SMCA) has a distinct quasi-biennial signal by measuring multiple fire metrics. This signal is initially driven by quasi-biennial variability in precipitation and is further amplified by positive feedback of fire–precipitation interaction at short timescales. This work highlights the importance of fire–climate interactions in shaping fires on an interannual scale.