Detection of biomass burning smoke from TOMS measurements

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/96GL00455· OSTI ID:245159

Hsu, N C; Seftor, C J; Torres, O; Eck, T F ^[1]

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1. Hughes STX, Greenbelt, MD (United States); and others

A 14.5 year gridded data set of tropospheric absorbing aerosol index was derived from the Nimbus-7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) reflectivity difference between 340 and 380 nm channels. Based upon radiative transfer calculations, the reflectivity anomaly between these two UV wavelength channels is very sensitive to smoke and soot aerosols from biomass burning and forest fires, volcanic ash clouds as well as desert mineral dust. The authors demonstrate the ability of the TOMS instrument to detect and track smoke and soot aerosols generated by biomass burning in South America. TOMS data can clearly distinguish between absorbing particles (smoke and dust) and non-absorbing aerosols (clouds and haze). For South American fires, comparisons of TOMS data are consistent with the limited amount of ground-based observations (Porto Nacional, Brazil) and show generally good agreement with other satellite imagery. TOMS data shows large-scale transport of smoke particulates generated by the burning fires in the South America, which subsequentially advects smoke aerosols as far as the Atlantic Ocean east of Uruguay. 15 refs., 4 fig.

• OSTI ID: 245159
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 23; ISSN GPRLAJ; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
BIOMASS
COMBUSTION
REMOTE SENSING
SMOKES
TROPOSPHERE