Use of Environmental Satellite Imagery for Smoke Depiction and Transport Model Initialization

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produces a daily satellite based smoke and fire analysis for the US. The capability to specify smoke concentration levels and to identify the start time, duration and areal extent of a particular fire which is producing smoke emissions has recently been added. Smoke concentration values are obtained from visual inspection of animated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) visible band imagery in conjunction with output from the automated GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP). There are three categories of smoke concentration utilized: 5, 16 and 27 μg/m3, which correspond to light, medium, and dense smoke respectively. The smoke concentration values are available for air quality managers and other users to download and/or view as GIS shapefiles. The initial time and duration of smoke emissions are also obtained through inspection of animated GOES visible imagery by an analyst. This information is incorporated into the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model which produces a 48 hour forecast of smoke dispersion and transport. In addition to approximating smoke emissions and the diurnal variations observed in wildfires the specification of emission duration allows for the representation of short duration agricultural and prescribed burns as well. A number of examples depicting various smoke concentrations, including fires of different size and duration, will be shown. HYSPLIT performance in depicting the observed smoke will also be presented.