A significant and sudden increase in springtime biomass burning emissions from 2008 to 2010 in MERRA-2

[GES DISC - xpan2]

Thanks for your additional plots! With them, I can draw the following conclusions:

1) The sudden increase in springtime MAM biomass burning emissions in MERRA-2 after 2010 is spurious and absent in other biomass burning inventories. This increase is primarily due to an artificial change in the source data, from monthly GFED before 2010 to daily QFED starting in and after 2010, especially in March and April.

2) The DJF decreasing trends are present in the MERRA-2 biomass-burning emissions and other biomass-burning inventories. February is the major contributor.