Following the Impacts of Smoke on Air Quality using Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI)

Abstract:

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-R series is NOAA’s next generation imager, with 16 spectral bands ranging from the visible to infrared. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved from the ABI has spatial resolution and accuracy similar to that of AOD from polar-orbiting satellites, but with the high temporal resolution of a geostationary satellite. Consequently, ABI AOD provides information on quick-evolving hazardous air quality events, such as fires and dust storms, that is not available from any other source. ABI AOD’s strengths for tracking the impacts of smoke aerosols on ambient air quality will be demonstrated for March 8, 2020, when smoke from an unannounced controlled burn in northeast Virginia moved along the Interstate-95 Corridor from Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland for several hours in the afternoon, causing local deteriorations in fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) air quality. GOES-16 ABI AOD with 5-min temporal resolution captured the timing and geographic extent of the transported smoke plume during daylight hours. Because there was no prior announcement of the controlled burn, ABI observations were the only way for decision-makers to determine the source of the smoke while the event was in progress.