Global burned area datasets severely underestimate fire-related forest loss

Global burned area datasets severely underestimate fire-related forest loss | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Global burned area datasets severely underestimate fire-related forest loss Amin Khairoun, Florent Mouillot, Wentao Chen, Philippe Ciais, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2105969/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract High omission rates of global coarse-resolution burned area (BA) products entail significant underestimation of actual fire impacts, especially in tropical regions. Fire impacts on deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) were analysed for 2016 and 2019 based on sentinel-2 satellite data (20 m). We found that fires are a precursor of forest loss, as burned areas had more than twice the chance to be deforested than unburned ones during the two study years. In moist tropical forest, the most vulnerable biome to fires, burning had even six times more chance to precede forest loss. For the whole SSA, fires contributed to more than 46% of total forest losses, more than twice the estimates based on two global BA products derived from the MODIS sensor (≥ 250 m). The vast majority of these losses occur in fragmented areas close to forest edge (< 320 m). We also found that medium-resolution BA detects more fires in late fire season, which tend to have higher impact on forest degradation than early season fires. High-resolution BA products are therefore needed to better assess fire and forest dynamics in tropical ecosystems. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Fire ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Forest ecology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2105969","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":148788793,"identity":"817b0966-23b6-425a-9d95-9dc52f4fbae4","order_by":0,"name":"Amin Khairoun","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIie3OvQqCUBTA8SOC001XQchX0MUGEV9FEXRua2gQgtvSHARRr+AktBkHbPEBBBuCwFnoBfKjpeVqW8P9bwfOj3MAeLy/TIgBsgykflgBGD+SYhLpasnA6QSi7JE+oLjrsoa5tjyhvgARGxZRK39rQFmbVA5D7ZCieYmlUGWeqXyqQoMCJcTSZikKSUYsptA/xB3IEd0kU17Mx4yelOgPJEa/vQLMx8yOeAUGlEiBTfIoSFCymGReRbXa5Oicd+K1ImvbSW6bJ/OxPu9rEkf3eTwejzfWG9e8S3qXh2w9AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5757-5126","institution":"University of Alcalá","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amin","middleName":"","lastName":"Khairoun","suffix":""},{"id":148788794,"identity":"8cdf7ae7-07f2-4406-b4a1-86d4768c2461","order_by":1,"name":"Florent Mouillot","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, IRD","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Florent","middleName":"","lastName":"Mouillot","suffix":""},{"id":148788795,"identity":"bace6cf6-cfc8-4711-970d-913ddca563b0","order_by":2,"name":"Wentao Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive CEFE, UMR 5175","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wentao","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":148788796,"identity":"a7513dc3-6d38-4768-a0ce-9116c5ce7d4a","order_by":3,"name":"Philippe Ciais","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8560-4943","institution":"Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Philippe","middleName":"","lastName":"Ciais","suffix":""},{"id":148788797,"identity":"89aa9501-1883-4cc5-af68-664ce6a76004","order_by":4,"name":"Emilio Chuvieco","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5618-4759","institution":"Universidad de Alcalá","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Emilio","middleName":"","lastName":"Chuvieco","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2022-09-26 19:45:31","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2105969/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2105969/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":43279945,"identity":"6f79f219-c5b4-4085-bd27-2b76939f46c7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-09-18 08:43:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2569568,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FirerelatedforestlossinAfricausingFireCCISFDv1.0Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2105969/v1_covered_729417c1-f6c2-44eb-9610-4b308cd4f501.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Global burned area datasets severely underestimate fire-related forest loss","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2105969/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2105969/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"High omission rates of global coarse-resolution burned area (BA) products entail significant underestimation of actual fire impacts, especially in tropical regions. Fire impacts on deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) were analysed for 2016 and 2019 based on sentinel-2 satellite data (20 m). We found that fires are a precursor of forest loss, as burned areas had more than twice the chance to be deforested than unburned ones during the two study years. In moist tropical forest, the most vulnerable biome to fires, burning had even six times more chance to precede forest loss. For the whole SSA, fires contributed to more than 46% of total forest losses, more than twice the estimates based on two global BA products derived from the MODIS sensor (≥ 250 m). The vast majority of these losses occur in fragmented areas close to forest edge (\u003c 320 m). We also found that medium-resolution BA detects more fires in late fire season, which tend to have higher impact on forest degradation than early season fires. 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