Estimation of black carbon emissions from Siberian fires using satellite observations of absorption and extinction optical depths

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Konovalov, Igor, B, Lvova, Daria, A, Beekmann, Matthias, Jethva, Hiren, Mikhailov, Eugene, F, Paris, Jean-Daniel, Belan, Boris, Kozlov, Valerii, S, Ciais, Philippe, Andreae, Meinrat, O.
• Other Authors: Institute of Applied Physics of RAS, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA (UMR_7583)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universities Space Research Association Washington (USRA), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Saint Petersburg University (SPBU), Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), ICOS-RAMCES (ICOS-RAMCES), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Laboratory of Theoretical Spectroscopy Tomsk (LTS), V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics (IAO), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS)-Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), ICOS-ATC (ICOS-ATC), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego), University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), King Saud University Riyadh (KSU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02395826; https://hal.science/hal-02395826/document; https://hal.science/hal-02395826/file/acp-18-14889-2018_Konovalov_BC.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14889-2018

International audience Black carbon (BC) emissions from open biomass burning (BB) are known to have a considerable impact on the radiative budget of the atmosphere at both global and regional scales; however, these emissions are poorly constrained in models by atmospheric observations, especially in remote regions. Here, we investigate the feasibility of constraining BC emissions from BB using satellite observations of the aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and the aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD) retrieved from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and MODIS (Moder-ate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) measurements, respectively. We consider the case of Siberian BB BC emissions , which have the strong potential to impact the Arc-tic climate system. Using aerosol remote sensing data collected at Siberian sites of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) along with the results of the fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment (FLAME-4), we establish an empirical parameterization relating the ratio of the elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) contents in BB aerosol to the ratio of AAOD and AOD at the wavelengths of the satellite observations. Applying this parameterization to the BC and OC column amounts simulated using the CHIMERE chemistry transport model, we optimize the parameters of the BB emission model based on MODIS measurements of the fire radiative power (FRP); we then obtain top-down optimized estimates of the total monthly BB BC amounts emitted from intense Siberian fires that occurred from May to Septem-ber 2012. The top-down estimates are compared to the corresponding values obtained using the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4) and the Fire Emission Inventory-northern Eurasia (FEI-NE). Our simulations using the optimized BB aerosol emissions are verified against AAOD and AOD data that were withheld from the estimation procedure. The simulations are further evaluated against in situ EC and OC measurements at the Zotino Tall Tower Observatory (ZOTTO) and also against aircraft aerosol ...