CO2 emission of Indonesian fires in 2015 estimated from satellite-derived atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Indonesia experienced an exceptional number of fires in 2015 as a result of droughts related to the recent El Niño event and human activities. These fires released large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Emission databases such as the Global Fire Assimilation System version 1.2 and the Global Fire Emission Database version 4s estimated the CO2 emission to be approximately 1100 MtCO2 in the time period from July to November 2015. This emission was indirectly estimated by using parameters like burned area, fire radiative power, and emission factors. In the study presented in this paper, we estimate the Indonesian fire CO2 emission by using the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO2, XCO2, derived from measurements of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite mission. The estimated CO2 emission is 748 ± 209 MtCO2, which is about 30% lower than provided by the emission databases.