Weekly Report for the Week of April 28, 2008
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CODE 613 LABORATORY FOR ATMOSPHERES
News Items
Goddard Scientists Use Satellite to Quantify the Trans-Pacific Transport of Pollution Aerosol
As a result of the much improved measurement accuracy and enhanced capabilities of satellite sensors such as those onboard the A-Train, quantitative assessments of aerosol long-range transport from measurements have recently become feasible. In a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, "A satellite-based assessment of transpacific transport of pollution aerosol", scientists from the Climate and Radiation Branch and the Laboratory for Atmospheres at Goddard Space Flight Center offer the first satellite-based estimate of the amount of pollution from East Asian and European forest fires, urban exhaust, and industrial production making its way to western North America. The satellite data suggest that the amount of pollution arriving in North America is equivalent to about 15 percent of local emissions of the U.S. and Canada.
This new study takes advantage of MODIS high-accuracy measurements of aerosol optical depths over ocean, fine- and coarse-mode separately, in combination with satellite measurements of vertical profiles of aerosol and water vapor respectively from GLAS and AIRS, and in situ measurements of comprehensive aerosol chemistry and physics in the regions. The multi-year satellite data has also allowed for examining seasonal and interannual variations of intercontinental transport of pollution.
Instrument Development
Matthew McGill (613.1) and John Yorks (613.1/SSAI) attended the UAS-AVE meeting at Dryden April 17-18. The UAS-AVE mission, to be flown March 2009, will be the first science mission for the new NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. The mission is devoted to validation of the Aura satellite. The Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) will be part of this first payload. The meeting at Dryden was an opportunity for the investigators to examine the aircraft, review instrument requirements, and identify any integration issues.
Travel
Robert Cahalan (613.2) attended and presented three papers at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2008 meeting in Vienna, Austria, April 13-18, 2008.
Field Campaigns
The spring deployment of the NASA aircraft experiment, Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS), ended last Saturday, April 19, 2008, after nearly three weeks conducting measurements of trace gases and aerosols over the Arctic region. ARCTAS is a part of the international IGAC/POLARCAT Experiment for the International Polar Year 2007-2008. Major ARCTAS objectives include (1) assessing the long-range transport of pollutants from major source regions to the Arctic, (2) estimating the aerosol radiative forcing over Arctic, and (3) understanding the chemical processes in the Arctic region, particularly the halogen chemistry leading surface ozone depletion, a process which is mostly active in the spring time over Arctic region. Scientists in the Climate and Radiation Branch (613.2), Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch (613.3), and Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (610.3) were involved in the ARCTAS to provide model forecasts for flight planning and near real time satellite data from MODIS, AIRS, and OMI and ground-based measurements from AERONET for regional guidance. Several scientists in Code 613 went to the field (Fairbanks, Alaska) to support the ARCTAS: Allen Chu (613.2), Lorraine Remer (613.2), Ralph Kahn (613.2), Charles Gatebe (613.2), Peter Colarco (613.3), Qing Liang (613.3), Huisheng Bian (613.3), Bryan Duncan (613.3), Mian Chin (613.3.), and Richard McPeters (613.3). The ARCTAS experiment was very successful: pollutants from Asia, Europe, North America, biomass burning from Eurasia, and dust from Asia and Africa were detected frequently by aircraft and satellite/ground stations; surface ozone and mercury depletion was observed several times that was consistent with the high halogen concentration observed by aircraft and satellites. Coincident surface albedo and BRDF measurements from the ground, aircraft, and MISR/MODIS were made over snow and ice, and the Goddard GEOS-5 chemical transport model was proven to provide reliable forecasts on location, altitude, and timing for sampling pollutants, smoke plumes, and dust, which is essential for daily flight planning.
Conferences and Seminars
Brad Fisher (613.1/SSAI) attended the EGU meeting in Vienna, Austria last week and presented one oral talk and three posters. The oral was part of an invited poster. The title of the talk and the first poster was Wolff, D. and B. Fisher "Comparison of TRMM Ground Validation Rain Rates with TRMM and Other Satellite Estimates". He presented the other two posters for Ali Tokay (613.1/UMBC), who could not attend:
Tokay, A.; Wolff, D.; Marks, D.; Kasparis, T. Physical and Climatological Radar Rainfall Relations in Florida
Rustemaier, E.; Tokay, A.; Bringi, V.; Huang, G.; Schönhuber, M.; Hudak, D.; Skofronick-Jackson, G.; Petersen, W.; Bataliga, A. Snow Size Distribution Measurements in Southern Ontario, Canada
Education and Outreach
George Huffman (613.1/SSAI) gave a presentation on hurricanes to the weekly breakfast meeting of the Greenbelt, MD Rotary Club.
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