This paper compares the results of emission estimates of trace gases from open vegetation fires in southern hemisphere Africa for the year 2000 using different data sets. The study employs several approaches, deriving carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from a variety of satellite information, measurement data sets, and empirically-based techniques to estimate burned areas (BA), fuel consumption (FC), and emission factors (EF). Three BA data sets are used: the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiomter (MODIS) burned area data set, the Global Burned Area data set for the year 2000 (GBA2000), and the Global Burn Scar Atlas (GLOBSCAR) in July and September, 2000. The estimated total BA in southern Africa varies significantly among data sets from 210,000 to 830,000 km2 for the sum of July and September. Temporal and spatial variations associated with CO emissions are analyzed using three different techniques for calculating the FC and EF. The first set of FC and EF extrapolates monthly variations in Zambia to southern Africa, the second extrapolates spatially resolved data for September to July, and the last includes monthly and spatial variations in both FC and EF. This analysis suggests the importance of accounting for the temporal and spatial variations in both FC and EF in order to determine the appropriate temporal and spatial variations of emissions from open vegetation fires. The CO emissions from open vegetation burning for the sum of July and September range from 18 to 31 Tg CO, using the MODIS BA data set and three different techniques for calculating FC and EF. The relative standard deviations (RSD) calculated from the three different methods are 58% for BA, 21% for FC, and 37% for EF. The best estimate of CO emissions from open biomass burning for the sum of the two months is 29 Tg CO, which may be compared to the estimates constrained by numerical models and measurements in 2000 which range from 22 to 39 Tg CO.