Evaluation of Suomi NPP VIIRS and GOES-16 ABI Fire Radiative Power (FRP) Products using FIREX-AQ DC-8 MASTER Data

Abstract:

NOAA uses satellite-derived Fire Radiative Power (FRP) to derive fire emissions. The Global Biomass Burning Emissions Product eXtended (GBBEPx) currently uses FRP from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Aqua and Terra Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The GBBEPx algorithm is currently being modified to include GOES-16 hourly ABI FRPs. The evaluation of fire emissions is difficult due to limited ground truthing. One of the ways to circumvent this issue is to evaluate the key input parameters that go into the algorithm. In this study, we compared VIIRS and ABI FRPs to the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) scanning spectrometer observations made from DC-8 aircraft during the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) field campaign. We found matchups between VIIRS and MASTER for 33 flight tracks covering the July and August 2019 time period. For these matchups, a mean bias of 66 MW was found and the source of the bias is due to VIIRS not sampling portions of the fire front observed by MASTER. The agreement between VIIRS and MASTER is better when the flaming portion of the fire is greater than 80% and number of saturated pixels is less than 20%. This presentation will show a focused analysis of satellite-derived FRPs for Williams Flats fire in southeast Washington between August 3-7, 2019 , especially for the fire clusters on August 8, 2019 that resulted in pyro-cumulonimbus (pyroCbs) clouds.