Observations of long-range transport of particulatepollution from the GOES Imager

摘要

The GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP) is a retrieval of the aerosol opticalDepth (AOD) using GOES visible imagery 1,2. The product currently runs at NOAA’sNational Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) in near-realtime at 30 minute intervals. Theproduct has been validated by comparisons to the AERONET ground sampling network,and preliminary comparisons indicate reasonable agreement, particularly during episodesof high aerosol loading. For many sites, correlations (r2) are between 0.7 and 0.8. In thisstudy, we present the GASP AOD product during two episodes leading to the long rangetransport of atmospheric aerosols. We focus on the high aerosol episodes on June 23 -July 1, 2004 and July 16 -21, 2004. The imagery indicates that the GASP AOD productis well suited for the detection of large scale particulate pollution events over the easternhalf of the continental U.S at high temporal resolution. In addition, GASP can be used tomonitor the long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols, as shown here for twoinstances of forest fire smoke transported from Canada/Alaska to the continental U.S.We also show how GASP imagery, including high temporal resolution loops, inconjunction with other data sources such as ground PM2.5 measurements, can be used tohelp understand the sources of aerosol pollution.