Emissions of atmospheric pollutants from biomass burning and vegetation fires are key drivers of the evolution of atmospheric composition, with a high degree of spatial and temporal variability, and an accurate representation of them in models is essential.
The CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) utilises satellite observations of fire radiative power (FRP) to provide near-real-time information on the location, relative intensity and estimated emissions from biomass burning and vegetation fires. Emissions are estimated by (i) conversion of FRP observations to the dry matter (DM) consumed by the fire, and (ii) application of emission factors to DM for different biomes, based on field and laboratory studies in the scientific literature, to estimate the emissions. Emissions estimates for 40 pyrogenic species are available from GFAS, including aerosols, reactive gases and greenhouse gases, on a regular grid with a spatial resolution of 0.1 degrees longitude by 0.1 degrees latitude.
This version of GFAS (v1.2) provides daily averaged data based on a combination of FRP observations from two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments, one on the NASA EOS-Terra satellite and the other on the NASA EOS-Aqua satellite from 1 January 2003 to present. GFAS also provides daily estimates of smoke plume injection heights derived from FRP observations and meteorological information from the operational weather forecasts from ECMWF.
GFAS data have been used to provide surface boundary conditions for the CAMS global atmospheric composition and European regional air quality forecasts, and the wider atmospheric chemistry modelling community.
More details about the products are given in the Documentation section.
## How to cite the CAMS GFAS data
Please acknowledge the use of the CAMS GFAS data as stated in the [Copernicus CAMS License agreement](http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/licences/copernicus/):
Where the Licensee communicates to the public or distributes or publishes CAMS Information, the Licensee shall inform the recipients of the source of that information by using the following or any similar notice:
'Generated using Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Information [Year]'.
Where the Licensee makes or contributes to a publication or distribution containing adapted or modified CAMS Information, the Licensee shall provide the following or any similar notice:
'Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Information [Year]';
Any such publication or distribution shall state that "neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains."