HR: 0800h
AN: A41A-0025    [Abstracts]
TI: The Vertical Dimension In Air Quality Measurements
AU: * McCann, K J
EM: kmccann@umbc.edu
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Hoff, R
EM: hoff@umbc.edu
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Rogers, R
EM: rrogers@umbc.edu
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Jordan, N
EM: njordan1@umbc.edu
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Engel-Cox, J
EM: engelcoxj@battelle.org
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Engel-Cox, J
EM: engelcoxj@battelle.org
AF: Battelle Memorial Institute, 2101 Wilson Boulevard Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22201 United States
AU: Mubenga, K
EM: kamonayi@aol.com
AF: CREST, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Kondragunta, S
EM: shobha.kondragunta@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/NESDIS, 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20746 United States
AU: Prados, A
EM: ana.prados@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/NESDIS, 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20746 United States
AB: At present, air quality measurements in general and PM2.5 measurements in particular lack the three-dimensional spatial and temporal resolution that could lead to better understanding and prediction of air quality. The use of satellite products such as the GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP) and the MODIS optical depth product (MOD04L2) as surrogates for fine particle mass is appealing because of the broad spatial coverage and their rapid updating of these satellite-based measurements. However, measurements made with the UMBC Elastic Lidar Facility (ELF) have shown that poor correlation between the satellite products, which are column measurements, and the PM2.5 measurements on the ground often occurs whenever an aerosol layer is aloft rather than near the ground. These results show that an understanding of the vertical structure of aerosol plumes that can be provided by a lidar system is essential for the understanding and modeling of pollution events and the relationship between the ground-based and satellite-based instruments. This summer, UMBC has been evaluating and comparing several ground- and satellite-based measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) with an eye towards the use of these products as a surrogate for PM2.5 measurements. We have investigated the ground-based lidar measurements of AOD with ELF, the GOES product GASP, done in cooperation with NOAA/NESDIS, and the MODIS optical depth product from both the Terra and Aqua satellites. While the results are preliminary, we have noted that overall the GASP and MODIS optical depths are generally not well correlated but MODIS is often in agreement with the ELF lidar results. We have shown previously, for the U.S. Midwest and east, there is reasonable correlation (r2.gt.0.8) between MODIS AOD column measurements and PM2.5 measurements. Unfortunately elsewhere, the correlation between the satellite measurements and the air quality measurement is poor and there are times when the AOD and PM2.5 are not well correlated even in the East. In this talk we will present both a summary of our comparisons and a discussion of specific occurrences of agreement and disagreement including a smoke plume in Baltimore from the Alaska forest fires earlier this summer.
UR: http://alg.umbc.edu
DE: 4801 Aerosols (0305)
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting