Integrating Satellite Measurements from Polar-orbiting instruments into Smoke Disperson Forecasts

Abstract:

The IDEA-I (Infusion of Satellite Data into Environmental Applications-International) is a real-time system that generates trajectory based forecasts of aerosol dispersion and trace gas stratospheric instrusions. It has its origins in the use of satellite measurements from the Aqua mission and has been in use (as stand-alone and web-based software) since the 2000s. The focus of this work will be on demonstrating the use of satellite measurements from the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Suomi-NPP instruments operational since 2012 and specifically in the generation of trajectory-based predictions of smoke disperson from North American wildfires. For this application, two data products are of insterest, namely the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and the combined Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) NOAA-Unique CrIS-ATMS Processing System (NUCAPS) carbon monoxide (CO) retrievals. The latter is a new data product made possible by the release of full spectral-resolution CrIS measurements since December 2014. IDEA-I will use these satellite data products in real-time to initialize smoke forecasts, which are made using high spatial resolution (13km) meteorological forecasts from the Rapid Refresh (RAP) model. With the model and measurements all at high spatial resolution, transport and dispersion errors are reduced within the complex terrain features that dominate the Western US and Alaska. The primary user community for the IDEA-I smoke forecasts is the Western regions of the Numerical Weather Service (NWS) and US Environmental Protection Agency EPA) due to the significant impacts of wildfires in these regions. Secondary users include Alaskan NWS offices and Western Sate and Local air quality management agencies such as the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP). With this we will demonstrate the operational capability that can be achieved by integrating polar-orbiting satellite measurements with high resolution forecast models towards the support of on-site decision support services for fire incident management teams and other real-time air quality agencies.