Evaluating the Height of Biomass Burning Smoke Aerosols Retrieved from Synergistic Use of Multiple Satellite Sensors over Southeast Asia

Abstract

This study evaluates the height of biomass burning smoke aerosols retrieved from a combined use of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) observations. The retrieved heights are compared against spaceborne and ground-based lidar measurements during the peak biomass burning season (March and April) over Southeast Asia from 2013 to 2015. Based on the comparison against CALIOP, a quality assurance (QA) procedure is developed. It is found that 74% (81-84%) of the retrieved heights fall within 1 km of CALIOP observations for unfiltered (QA-filtered) data, with root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.1 km (0.8-1.0 km). Eliminating the requirement for CALIOP observations from the retrieval process significantly increases the temporal coverage with only a slight decrease in the retrieval accuracy; for best QA data, 64% of data fall within 1 km of CALIOP observations with RMSE of 1.1 km. When compared with Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) measurements deployed at Doi Ang Khang, Thailand, the retrieved heights show RMSE of 1.7 km (1.1 km) for unfiltered (QA-filtered) data for the complete algorithm, and 0.9 km (0.8 km) for the simplified algorithm.

Satellite-Surface Perspectives of Air Quality and Aerosol-Cloud Effects on the Environment: An Overview of 7-SEAS/BASELInE

“…Both AERONET's sun-sky spectroradiometer and MPLNET's vertical-pointing lidar with polarization capability are NASA's facility instruments and their instrumentation, measurement and processing are given in the links: http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov and http://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov, respectively. Lee et al (2016b), Sayer et al (2016b), and Wang et al (2015) have also utilized heavily the measurements of AERONET/ MPLNET in this special issue. Lists of instruments hosted by SMARTLabs mobile laboratories can be found in Table 1 of Pantina et al (2016, for in-situ probes) and Table 1 of Loftus et al (2016, for remote sensing instruments).…”

“…Furthermore, Qi et al (2016) reported that aerosol optical properties exhibited high value in absorption AOT and high aerosol volumes, low SSA in coarse mode after agricultural burning of rice straw in East China. Lee et al (2016b) applied ASHE (Aerosol Singlescattering-albedo and Height Estimation) satellite algorithm to produce a large-scale spatial distribution of the heights of biomass-burning aerosols over SEA. Utilizing measurements of AERONET (e.g., spectral AOT, SSA) and MPLNET (e.g., extinction profile) during BASELInE IOPs, ASHE products were examined (and uncertainties estimated) extensively in particular over areas outside the CALIOP track, which had not been available using CALIOP measurements only.…”

Radiative Effect of Springtime Biomass-Burning Aerosols over Northern Indochina during 7-SEAS/BASELInE 2013 Campaign

“…The impact of BB on air quality over Southeast Asia was evaluated within the framework of BASE-ASIA campaign by using chemical transport modelling (Fu et al, 2012;Huang et al, 2013). Moreover, some recent studies also emphasized the BB emissions from Indochina region and explained their impact on regional air quality, atmospheric radiation, hydrological cycle, and climate (e.g., Lin et al, 2013;Tsay et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2014;Tsay et al, 2016) by using in-situ measurements (e.g., Chuang et al, 2013b;Wang et al, 2015;Chuang et al, 2016;Hsiao et al, 2016;Khamkaew et al, 2016;Pantina et al, 2016;Sayer et al, 2016), satellite observations (e.g., Hsu et al, 2003;Huang et al, 2011;Campbell et al, 2013;Lee et al, 2016b), remote sensing Reid et al, 2013), and modeling studies (Fu et al, 2012;Loftus et al, 2016) within the 7-SEAS framework. Wang et al (2015) investigated the presence of strongly absorbing (single-scattering albedo ≈0.88 and absorption angstrom exponent ≈1.5) carbonaceous aerosols within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over northern Indochina in 2014 spring.…”

Influence of Synoptic‐Dynamic Meteorology on the Long‐Range Transport of Indochina Biomass Burning Aerosols

“…Biomass burning aerosols play a critical role in the regional atmospheric environment and climate system in Southeast Asia (SEA; Lin et al, ; Lin et al, ; Tsay et al, ; Tsay et al, ). Studies have elaborated in‐depth on biomass burning aerosols in SEA from different aspects, including aerosol composition (Lee, Ram, et al, ), transport (Chuang, Fu, Lee, et al, ; Chuang, Fu, Lin, et al, ), and satellite remote sensing (Lee, Hsu, et al, ; Sayer et al, ). Based on the outcomes from previous studies, biomass burning aerosols over the region, the short‐term predictability of their long‐range transport, and their feedback on weather modification are emerging topics that require more dedicated research resources to properly address.…”