ISTP Oktober Aerosol boomerang: Rapid around-the-world transport of smoke from the December 2006 Australian forest fires observed from space Ruud Dirksen, KNMI Folkert Boersma, Jos de Laat, Piet Stammes
ISTP Oktober December 2006: severe forest fires in SE Australia release aerosol boomerang Pyroconvective lofting facilitated long range transport Determine the plume’s altitude: OMI O 2 -O 2, CALIOP, TM4 Conclusions
ISTP Oktober Meteorological situation 14 Dec 2006 Weathermap of 14 December 2006, 1600 LT Cold front passing over fire location
ISTP Oktober The Victoria blowup 14 Dec 2006 Observed by MODIS Courtesy M. Fromm
ISTP Oktober OMI O 2 -O 2 cloud algorithm Absorption & scattering -O 2 -O 2 collision pressure dependent -Measures air column above cloud -Linedepth cloud height -Background cloud fraction
ISTP Oktober Altitude information O 2 -O 2 Adjacent clouds: 1-5km Scene pressure of plume itself yields higher altitudes OMI RGB 15 Dec NZ Source region TM4 tropopause
ISTP Oktober Evolution of the plume 21 Dec Cloudless 19 Dec High Clouds CALIPSO footprint Orbit Orbit TM4 tropopause
ISTP Oktober Dec 17 Dec 14 Dec 16 Dec 19 Dec 18 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 23 Dec 22 Dec 24 Dec 25 Dec TM4 simulation Passive tracer Water soluble Injection height 248 hPa (~10km) reproduces OMI AAI observations CTMs don’t incorporate latent heat from fires, emissions released at ground level
ISTP Oktober CALIOP TM4 profiles for various injection heights Injection height 248 hPa gives best agreement with CALIOP observations
ISTP Oktober Injection height Courtesy Maria Val Martin High resolution 1-D plume rise model to simulate lofting of the plume by pyro-convection Input: Meteorological conditions at fire location on 14 Dec 2006 Fire front intensity, latent heat
ISTP Oktober Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec 22 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec 22 Dec 20 Dec Water soluble tracer TM4 captures evolution and removal of the plume passive tracer TM4 simulations with water soluble tracer show the removal of the plume by scavenging. Model the whole life cycle of the event
ISTP Oktober Conclusions Spectacular case of around-the-world transport of smoke from 2006 Australian forest fires Passing cold front + heat from the fire caused pyroconvective lofting of plume to tropopause region CALIOP retrieves km plume altitude OMI O 2 -O 2 sensitive to high aerosol plume TM4 simulations observed lifecycle of plume best for: –Injection at ~10 km –Soluble tracer
ISTP Oktober Questions?