Gi Hyuk Choi

Aerosol and CO loading in the atmosphere observed by the MODIS and MOPITT: Russian forest fire case

The Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provides aerosol optical depth (AOD) along with the fine mode fraction over ocean and darker land surfaces. Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) onboard the Terra satellite provides quantitative information of carbon monoxide (CO). Measurements of CO whose principal sources arise from anthropogenic emissions such as biomass burning and forest fires, is very useful for tracing fire emissions in the atmosphere. In this study, intense fires in the southeast part of Russia in May, 2003 are studied with the satellite data from MODIS and MOPITT. The AOD distribution from the MODIS for May, 2003 show stretched regions of high AODs near the Korean Peninsula. The CO concentrations at 700 hPa from the MOPITT for May, 2003 also show enhanced values. Correlation between CO and AOD are investigated for the forest fire case. This multi-instrumental approach to monitor the aerosol in the atmosphere is expected to contribute to the classification of the aerosol characteristics in the atmosphere, carbonaceous aerosol in particular.

Detection of Russian Fires Using MOPITT and MODIS Data

The great fires were detected through the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations over Northeast Asia. The large amount of smoke produced near Lake Baikal was transported to East Asia using high Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) as seen through the satellite images. The smoke pollution from the Russian forest fires would sometimes reach Korea through Mongolia and eastern China. In May 2003, a number of large fires blazed through eastern Russian, producing a thick, widespread pall of smoke over much of East Asia. This study focuses on the identification of the carbon monoxide (CO) for MOPITT released from MOPITT primarily into East Asia during the Russian Fires. In the wake of the fires, the 700hPa MOPITT retrieved CO concentrations which reached up to 250ppbv. Smoke aerosol retrieval using a separation technique was also applied to the MODIS data observed in 14-22 May 2003. Large AOT, 2.0 ~ 5.0, was observed over Korea on 20 May 2003 due to the influence of the long range transport of smoke aerosol plume from the Russian Fires.