Radiative forcing due to shifting southern African fire regimes

Eames, Tom; Schutgens, Nick; Ioannidis, Eleftherios; van der Velde, Ivar R.; van Gerrevink, Max J.; Vernooij, Roland; van der Werf, Guido R.

doi:10.5194/acp-25-17429-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17429-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17429-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 23

Research article

|

02 Dec 2025

Research article |

| 02 Dec 2025

Radiative forcing due to shifting southern African fire regimes

Tom Eames, Nick Schutgens, Eleftherios Ioannidis, Ivar R. van der Velde, Max J. van Gerrevink, Roland Vernooij, and Guido R. van der Werf

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17429-2025-supplement

Data sets

Input and output files for prescribed burning emissions simulations in southern African savannas T. Eames https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15578063

Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5) Burned Area (0.1) Yang Chen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7668424

Measurements of savanna landscap fire emission factors for CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O using a UAV-based sampling methodology Roland Vernooij https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7695798

NCEP FNL Operational Model Global Tropospheric Analyses, continuing from July 1999 DOC/NOAA/NWS/NCEP https://doi.org/10.5065/D6M043C6

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061 A. Lyapustin and Y. Wang https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061

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Short summary

Prescribed burning is used as a landscape management tool in southern African savannas. By deliberately changing the timing of fires in this region, the climate effect (radiative forcing) of a fire season can be altered. We show that by burning earlier in the dry season a small climate cooling effect can be achieved, similar to that of a 10 % reduction in global commercial aviation emissions. Local effects must be considered before implementing a fire regime shift for climate change mitigation.