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Simulations and Experiments using Satellite -retrieved Carbon Monoxide (CO) as a Speciated Proxy of smoke Aerosol Layered Optical Depth (AOD) for Radiative Transfer (RT) Model Studies:   a poster for the AGU Fall Meeting 2023
  • M. E. Giordano,
  • E. M. Wilcox,
  • K. Pistone
M. E. Giordano

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
E. M. Wilcox
K. Pistone

Abstract

Understanding the vertical structure of atmospheric aerosol is important for solar radiometric study across all spectra. This work pertains to three relevant Southern Hemispheric regions of interest: Southeast Atlantic (SEA), Amazonia (AMZ), and Southeast Pacific (SEP), where seasonal biomass burning events produce smoke plumes of climatic interest. We make use of our previously validated aerosol typology based in AERONET retrieved optical properties, to identify each individual measurement classified as biomass burning within the geographic region of interest. The data is trimmed to select only those classifications measured within the recognized fire-dominant season of each geographic region. We employ The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Carbon Monoxide (CO) data to construct canonical vertical CO profiles (characteristic "shape" curves) from records in the historic burn season window, and within the geographic rectangular boundaries of interest. These canonical CO curves then proxy for AOD curves, constrained to be distributed vertically such that their integrated sum matches to specific Bulk Columnar AOD (BCA) values as determined in the corresponding AERONET record. The layer CO values are normalized to fractional coefficients of the columnar CO total for each canonical profile. These coefficients then are distributed as AOD layer coefficients of the bulk columnar AOD; thus, preserving the canonical profile shapes. This results in vertically resolved AOD profiles for specific geo-region which can be fed into a Radiative Transfer model to result in Total Layered Heating Rates (TLHR) and Aerosol Layered Heating Rates (ALHR) expressed in K/day. We found for example: smoke aerosol plumes in the SEA during the August to October season tend to bi-modally develop between a characteristically higher plume or a lower plume, separated by approximately 1 km vertically. Layer Heating rates develop accordingly. We present methodology, developments, and some cases of these studies specifically for the Southeast Atlantic (SEA) region dominated by seasonal wildfire in Sub-Sahel Africa.
01 Jan 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
13 Jan 2024Published in ESS Open Archive