A176-0021
Validation of satellite measurements in wildfire plumes: A first look using aircraft in situ and remote sensing instruments
Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Poster
Kyle J Zarzana1, Jake Rowe1, Natalie Kille2, David Thomson3, Christopher F Lee1, Theodore Konstantinos Koenig1, Benjamin Howard1, Rhett Nutter4, Teresa Lynn Campos5, Larry Oolman6, David M Plummer6, Christoph Johannes Knote7, Nicolas Theys8, Christophe Lerot8, Michel Van Roozendael8, Eric C Apel7, Rebecca S Hornbrook7, Alan J Hills9, Ilana B Pollack10, Jakob Lindaas11, Emily V Fischer12, Frank M Flocke9, Andrew John Weinheimer13, Denise Montzka7, Geoffrey S Tyndall5, Qiaoyun Peng14, Brett Palm15, Joel A Thornton16, Wade Permar17, Lu Hu18, Johannes Orphal19 and Rainer M Volkamer20, (1)University of Colorado Boulder, Chemistry & CIRES, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)University of Colorado Boulder, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences & CIRES, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Cooperate Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, United States, (4)University of Colorado Boulder, Chemistry & CIRES, Boulder, United States, (5)Natl Ctr Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, (6)University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States, (7)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium, (9)NCAR, Boulder, CO, United States, (10)NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, CO, United States, (11)Harvard University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA, United States, (12)Colorado State University, Atmospheric Science, Fort Collins, CO, United States, (13)NCAR, Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, (14)California State University Northridge, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Northridge, CA, United States, (15)University of Washington Seattle Campus, Atmospheric Sciences, Seattle, United States, (16)University of Washington, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Seattle, WA, United States, (17)University of Montana, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Missoula, MT, United States, (18)Univ of MN-Soil, Water, & Clim, St. Paul, MN, United States, (19)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe, Germany, (20)University of Colorado Boulder, Chemistry, ATOC & CIRES, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Current and future trace gas monitoring satellites offer significant increases in sensitivity as well as improved temporal and spatial resolution. These advantages enable the study of many processes, such as biomass burning, that previously could not be easily studied from space. However, these increased capabilities require increased validation to ensure the accuracy of the results. In addition to differences in calibrations between instruments, there is a fundamental sampling problem due to the difficulties of comparing measurements that are being conducted at very different temporal and spatial scales. The different variations in atmospheric state measured at different scales pose a fundamental sampling challenge that is particularly acute in dynamic environments such as biomass burning plumes. In addition, the scales used to make model predictions differ from those of remote sensing and
in situ measurements, posing a challenge of how to best use available observations to evaluate and develop atmospheric models.
During the summer of 2018, two aircraft campaigns took place in the northwestern United States. The Biomass Burning Flux Measurements of Trace Gases and Aerosols (BB-FLUX) campaign conducted flights that flew underneath the plumes and made column measurements of various traces gases with several remote sensing instruments. The Western wildfire Experiment for Cloud chemistry, Aerosol absorption and Nitrogen (WE-CAN) measured an extensive suite of compounds by flying into the plumes and sampling with a variety of in situ instruments. These two campaigns measured emissions from many of the same fires and conducted several coordinated flights to simultaneously sample emissions. The flights on 15 August 2018 coincided with an overpass of the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite containing the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), providing an opportunity to compare satellite remote sensing measurements looking down on the plumes with either in situ measurements from within the plume or remote sensing measurements looking through the plume. Comparisons of several UV gases such as HCHO, HONO, and NO2 will be presented, and structure functions will be used to characterize in plume variability. Challenges of the comparisons and recommendations for future studies will also be discussed.
