Analysis of injection heights of boreal forest fire plumes determined from MISR data
Abstract
Case studies show incidences in which emissions from boreal forest fires are injected into the atmosphere well above the boundary layer. We and others have shown that a significant fraction of emissions from boreal fires must be injected above the boundary layer if atmospheric concentrations of CO, ozone, and aerosols are to be simulated accurately. At present, the extent to which boreal forest fire plumes are sufficiently energetic to reach the free troposphere is not known. Our present work seeks to quantify the injection heights during a boreal forest burning season and to relate them to meteorological conditions. The multi-angle capability of the MISR instrument, aboard the NASA Terra satellite, allows us to determine the height of biomass burning plumes. We have analyzed over 600 plumes identified in Alaska and the Yukon Territories between June and September of 2004 using the MISRTOOL program. Many of these plumes were observed above the planetary boundary layer. We show that the heights of the plumes are highly correlated with levels of atmospheric stability. We have developed an algorithm for use in global atmospheric models that allows the injection heights of boreal forest fire emissions to be calculated using local atmospheric stability profiles.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFM.A53C1336L
- Keywords:
-
- 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426;
- 1610);
- 0368 Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry;
- 1610 Atmosphere (0315;
- 0325);
- 3307 Boundary layer processes;
- 3314 Convective processes