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@article{Flegrová:2025:10.1029/2024JD041491,
author = {Flegrová, M and Brindley, H},
doi = {10.1029/2024JD041491},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
title = {Two Decades of Fire-Induced Albedo Change and Associated Short-Wave Radiative Effect Over Sub-Saharan Africa},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041491},
volume = {130},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - We present an analysis of 20 years of fire and albedo data in Africa. We show that, in the mean, the sub-Saharan Africa post-fire surface albedo anomaly can be parameterized using an exponential recovery function, recovering from a decrease of (Formula presented.) immediately after a fire with a time constant of (Formula presented.) days. Although the magnitude of albedo changes shows large spatial and temporal variations and a strong land cover type (LCT) dependency, exponential recovery is observed in the majority of LCTs. We show that fires cause long-term surface brightening, with an Africa-wide albedo increase of (Formula presented.) 10 months after a fire, but we find this is driven almost exclusively by slow vegetation recovery in the Kalahari region, confirming previous findings. Using downward surface shortwave flux (DSSF) estimates, we calculate the fire-induced surface radiative forcing (RF), peaking at (Formula presented.) Wm−2 in the burn areas, albeit with a significantly smaller effect when averaged temporally and spatially. We find that the long-term RF in months 5–10 after a burn averaged over the continent is negative because of the brightening observed. Despite a well-documented reduction in burning in Africa in the recent decades, our temporal analysis does not indicate a decrease in the overall fire-induced RF likely due to large interannual variability in albedo anomaly and DSSF data. However, we observe a decline in the short-term RF in southern hemisphere Africa, driven by both a reduction in fires and changes in LCT distributions.
AU - Flegrová,M
AU - Brindley,H
DO - 10.1029/2024JD041491
PY - 2025///
SN - 2169-897X
TI - Two Decades of Fire-Induced Albedo Change and Associated Short-Wave Radiative Effect Over Sub-Saharan Africa
T2 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041491
VL - 130
ER -