Commentary on "Improving the seasonal cycle and interannual variations of biomass burning aerosol sources" by Generoso et al.

Abstract. In a recent published paper, Generoso et al. (2003) describe a method for improving the spatial and temporal distribution of pyrogenic aerosol emission inventories. In the course of their analysis, the authors note several significant discrepancies in the seasonality of burning as observed by the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and four other biomass burning data sets derived from satellite observations. In this commentary we explain the source of these discrepancies and clarify the origin of the VIRS observations that were used by Generoso et al.