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- Title
Thermal infrared observations of a western United States biomass burning aerosol plume.
- Authors
Sorenson, Blake T.; Reid, Jeffrey S.; Jianglong Zhang; Holz, Robert E.; Smith Sr., William L.; Gumber, Amanda
- Abstract
Biomass burning smoke particles, due to their sub-micron particle size in relation to the average thermal Infrared (TIR) wavelength, theoretically have negligible signals at the TIR channels. However, near-instantaneous longwave (LW) signatures of thick smoke plumes can be frequently observed at the TIR channels from remotely sensed data, including at 10.6 μm (IR window) as well as in water vapor-sensitive wavelengths at 7.3, 6.8, and 6.3 μm (e.g., lower, middle and upper troposphere). We systematically evaluated multiple hypotheses as to causal factors of these IR signatures of biomass burning smoke using a combination of Aqua MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16/17 (GOES-16/17) Advanced Baseline Imager, and Suomi-NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) data. The largely clear transmission of light through wildfire smoke in the near infrared indicates that coarse or giant ash particles are unlikely to be the dominant cause. Rather, clear signals in water vapor and TIR channels suggest both co-transported water vapor injected to the mid to upper troposphere and surface cooling by the reduction of surface radiation by the plume are more significant, with the surface cooling effect of smoke aloft being the most dominant. Giving consideration of the smoke impacts onto TIR/longwave, CERES indicates large wildfire aerosol plumes are more radiatively neutral. Further, this smokeinduced TIR signal may be used to map very optically thick smoke plumes, where traditional aerosol retrieval methods have difficulties.
- Subjects
GOES (Meteorological satellite); MODIS (Spectroradiometer); SMOKE plumes; AEROSOLS; TROPOSPHERIC aerosols; BIOMASS burning; LIGHT transmission; INFRARED imaging
- Publication
Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics Discussions, 2023, p1
- ISSN
1680-7367
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/egusphere-2023-218