Pyrocumulus Clouds over California and Oregon Last week

With much of the Pacific Northwest experiencing drought conditions, fires burning in Northern California and Southern Oregon led to poor air quality conditions regionally and downwind of the fires in early August.  Pyrocumulus clouds, also known as "fire clouds",  appear as opaque white patches hovering over darker smoke in satellite imagery and form from the intense heat of the fires (similar to cumulus clouds forming over a sun-warmed ground). The MODIS satellite views below show pyrocumulus clouds near the California/Oregon border associated with the Beaver Complex Fire and Bald Fire. 

AIRS observed in near real time the rapid vertical motion associated with these pyrocumulus clouds and the injection of carbon monoxide high into the atmosphere (at least 5-6km above the surface).  Once the smoke reached this height, CO is easily transported downwind as seen in the image below where the plume extends eastward into Idaho.The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) also captured smoke emanating from these fires.  Observations of aerosols detected by OMPS can be viewed here and show the smoke plume transported to Idaho and Montana by August 3rd. 

As of August 8th, the entire region remains under a Fire Weather Watch. With droughts continuing to be a serious problem, the threat of forest fires remains high as we continue through August. 

This blog post was the combined effort of Meredith Nichols and Debra Kollonige.

How are emission sources distributed in Weld County Colorado? - HOT TOPIC during the DISCOVER-AQ/FRAPPE campaigns

Natural gas and oil wells have appeared more rapidly across Colorado in the past few years, particularly in Weld County, which is one area where the DISCOVER-AQ/FRAPPE aircrafts have been flying this past month. The C-130 aircraft, run by NCAR/NSF, detected possible well signatures in the area between Platteville and Greeley (see figure below) on July 26th, where there is a heavy population of oil and gas wells (not shown).     

The first area circled in red between Greeley and Kersey (C-130 measurements below) appears to have gas emissions from both agricultural and oil & gas sources. The C-130 measured elevated concentrations of ethane and benzene in this region, typically oil & gas signatures, but ammonium (bi-product of ammonia) also has elevated concentrations. Based on EIA's database of oil and gas wells and google imagery of farms and well pads, we discovered this area does have both sources. 

Further to the south near Gilcrest, the C-130 measured (preliminary data above) hot spot of benzene, but unlike the first area, there was no elevated ammonium just west of the town. EIA's well database places multiple wells in this area as well as a natural gas power plant, indicating a local source. On the figures above, another area to point out is just southeast of Platteville and northeast of Fort Lupton.  Elevated concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), benzene, ethane were measured by the C-130 and are most likely being emitted by oil and gas wells situated south of Platteville and multiple natural gas power plants just northeast of Fort Lupton (based on EIA's database).  

Ground measurements from NATIVE at DISCOVER-AQ Platteville site (above) between 25th-28th of July show enhanced CO, CH4, SO2 (sulfur dioxide), and NO2 on the same day (morning of), most likely from a common local source (ie. wells and power plants to the southeast).  This appears to be a common occurrence as the next morning CH4 and NO2 are again elevated and could be emissions from the operation of a nearby gas well.  The figure below is a satellite view of the Platteville site and indicates the proximity of this site to oil and gas well pads as well as the pictures below (taken by Ryan Stauffer) of a well constructed just southwest during the Gator Team's time there.   

This blog post was the combined effort of Zachary Fasnacht and Debra Kollonige.

Heavy Rainfalls Lead to Healthier Air Quality Conditions in Colorado Front Range Last Week

Smoke, most likely originating from fires in the Northwest Territory (Canada), still lingered across the north and central US on the 27th of July.  NOAA's HMS imagery places smoke from the Canadian fires extending from the Colorado Front Range to Tennessee and across much of the central US (left).  Similarly, the AIRS instrument sees high concentrations of carbon monoxide throughout this area on the 27th (right).     

NOAA HMS fire and smoke product (left) and AIRS NRT carbon monoxide at mid-troposphere (right) courtesy of Debra Kollonige.

A low pressure system entered the region on the 28th of July, which resulted in heavy rainfall over the Colorado Front Range between July 28th-31st. The High Park Precipitation Station, near Masonville, CO, slightly southwest of Fort Collins, received roughly 2.5 inches of rain in about 24 hours (top). A precipitation station in Denver recorded almost 3 inches of rain in a similar time span (bottom).  This much needed rainfall helped temporarily relieve the state of its current drought conditions and most likely caused mixing of the smoke pollution into the atmosphere, leading to cleaner air quality conditions across the Colorado Front Range.  

Data and figures courtesy of the USGS, the Colorado Real-Time Precipitation Network, and Meredith Nichols.  

Measurements from the PSU NATIVE trailer out at Platteville, Colorado, taken during the DISCOVER-AQ campaign show the drop in carbon monoxide (left) and increase in relative humidity (right) between the 28th and 31st of July (marked in red on the figures below).  

Data and figures courtesy of the PSU Gator Team and Sonya Miller of PSU.

This blog posting was the combined effort of Debra Kollonige and Meredith Nichols.

  
Update 8/6/2014 at 1:00pm:  Here's an interesting video time lapse of the clouds and rainfall in the Front Range 28-31 July.  Thanks to Meredith Nichols for finding this.

Gator Team Student Gives Poster Presentation at NASA Goddard Today

MD Gator Team summer intern and incoming University of Maryland College Park graduate student, Zachary Fasnacht, presented his current research at the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Intern Program poster session today.

Zach Fasnacht (right) standing at his poster today with Dr. Debra Kollonige (left), one of his mentors this summer and Gator Team South member.

His poster, entitled "Effect of Stratospheric Intrusions on Tropospheric Ozone and Air Quality", demonstrated the combined use of aircraft, ozonesonde, and satellite-retrieved profiles for locating stratospheric intrusions during the DISCOVER-AQ Maryland (2011) deployment.  At the Edgewood-Maryland site, Zach found 4 days where stratospheric intrusions enhanced tropospheric ozone; however, surface air quality conditions were not effected on those days.

This project was mentored by Dr. Anne Thompson (GSFC) and Lesley Ott (GMAO).  Zach plans to continue this work looking toward other campaign deployments like the current DISCOVER-AQ Colorado 2014 field study.

Smoke Continued to be the Story Last Weekend at DISCOVER-AQ Platteville-Colorado Site

Canadian wildfires and fires in the Pacific Northwest effected much of the northern US last week, making the air in northern half smoky, hazy, and even having unhealthy AQI (Air Quality Index) levels of PM 2.5. AIRS NRT observations in the mid-troposphere (~5.5-6.5km) places a layer of smoke above the DISCOVER-AQ Platteville site on the afternoon of 19th of July (last Saturday). Elevated concentrations of ozone and CO (carbon monoxide) correlate with intensely dry air in this layer high above northern Colorado.  NOAA HMS Smoke and Fire Product on the 17th and 18th of July (shown in previous blog post) indicate a main smoke plume originating from fires in western Canada and northwestern US.  Additional HYSPLIT trajectories (not shown but verbal communication with Ryan Stauffer) suggests the source to be smoke coming from Canadian fires. 

AIRS Day NRT ozone (top left), CO (top right), and relative humidity (bottom left) at 500mb (~5.5-6.5km) via Debra Kollonige of ESSIC/UMD.

Ozonesondes launched at Platteville show the progression of the smoke layer in the upper levels at 6-9km (on the 17th, 18th, and 19th) to its descent and dissipation at 5-7km (on the 20th and 21st) above the surface.  The highest concentrations of ozone measured by the sonde are on the 17th (afternoon-left top below) as the smoke plume begins to enter the site area at 8km (~350mb) and the 20th (morning) at 7km (~400mb) before the air mass descends (bottom right below) and mixes into lower levels on the 21st. [See PSU Gator Ozonesonde Quicklooks for additional days.]

Ozonesonde profiles launched at DISCOVER-AQ Platteville-Colorado site July 16-21 courtesy of Ryan Stauffer of PSU.

AIRS Day NRT trace gas measurements averaged over the Platteville area (retrievals within 50km)  indicate the entrance of a smoke layer over Platteville by the 17th with dry, ozone and CO rich air in the upper levels.  Peaking on the 19th, AIRS missed the higher concentration measured by the sonde on the 17th because of the course vertical resolution of the observations.  Still, its time series of ozone, CO, and relative humidity between 5 and 9km shows the buildup of ozone and CO over Platteville 17-19 July, descent of the smoke/polluted air mass starting on the 20th, and its mixing/dissipation into the lower levels on the 21st.  [See the UMBC Smog Blog at http://alg.umbc.edu/usaq/ for additional images of the descent of the smoke layer towards the surface via lidar measurements posted on July 19/20.]

AIRS Day NRT series of trace gases (ozone, relative humidity, CO and methane respectively top to bottom) observed July 16-22 at several levels including 500mb (black), 400mb (red), and 300mb (blue), which range in altitude from 5.5-9km.  Figure courtesy of Debra Kollonige.

Stay tuned for more satellite and DISCOVER-AQ measurements now that the mission has completed a few flights this week.    

Canadian and Pacific NW Fires Observed by AIRS (7/14-7/18)

This week, VIIRS (Visible Infrared Radiometer Suite) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) observed active fires in British Columbia (Canada) and the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington mostly).  To determine the impact of these fires on air quality downwind, we examined AIRS (Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder) trace gases (CO, CH4, and O3) in Near Real Time (NRT).  Observations begin on July 14th, show the transport of elevated CO and O3 across the Front Range by the 16th of July, and an influence on the Eastern US today.

On the 14th (Figure 1):  NOAA's Hazard Mapping System (HMS) Fire and Smoke Analysis picks up active fires in British Columbia (BC) and Oregon.  Smoke from the BC and other northern Canadian fires spreads across northern US including NE Colorado.  AIRS observes correlated total column CO (TCCO) and total column CH4 (TCCH4) in the Pacific Northwest (red circle below) region and elevated mid-tropospheric CO (greater than 200 ppbv) over active fires in Oregon.    

Figure 1: Courtesy of Debra Kollonige.

On the 16th (Figure 2): Again active fires detected by HMS (bottom right) are associated with high mid-tropospheric CO concentrations measured by AIRS in NRT (bottom left). At this point, elevated trace gases (CO and O3) have reached Colorado (top); most likely influenced by both the ongoing Canadian and NW US fires.      

Figure 2: Courtesy of Debra Kollonige.

 Yesterday -7/17 and Today - 7/18 (Figure 3):  With fires still active, smoke has become widespread across the US (bottom: 7/17 left and 7/18 right).  Regions with correlated CO and O3 could be aged air from fire sources.  Even the Washington, DC / Baltimore areas are expected to have a noticeable impact from the Northwest fires (ie. pretty sunsets today from scattering off particles in the air.) 

Figure 3: Courtesy of Debra Kollonige and Meredith Nichols.

For quick plots of ground observations at Platteville-Colorado DISCOVER-AQ site:  visit the PSU Gator Team page at  http://ozone.met.psu.edu/dev/index.php.  For more images and tweets, follow @MDGatorTeam and @PSUGatorTeam on Twitter.

The Start of DISCOVER-AQ Colorado 2014

The NASA DISCOVER-AQ campaign deployment in Colorado is now underway with the setup of ground sites near Denver last week and the recent arrival of the planes.  Gator Team members from MD and PSU are hard at work setting up their site at Platteville, CO., located just fifteen (15) miles southwest of Greeley and thirty-seven (37) miles northeast of downtown Denver.  The PSU NATIVE trailer (Photo below by Ryan Stauffer) has a suite of instruments measuring trace gases at the surface and ozonesondes provide ozone and relative humidity profiles vertically in the atmosphere.

   

In preparation for the first flight of the campaign, researchers back in MD are viewing Near Real Time (NRT) observations from the NASA AIRS instrument (on the Aqua satellite) to provide context for pollution transport across the study region.  The example image below (courtesy of Debra Kollonige) shows carbon monoxide in the mid-troposphere for the US. as measured by AIRS, which is commonly used to trace pollution back to its source.  

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the campaign.  For more information about the goals of DISCOVER-AQ, visit http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov/. Follow all of our Gator Team South and PSU Gator Team activities on Twitter.