Daily global maps of carbon monoxide from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

We present the first observations of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard NASA's Aqua satellite. AIRS daily coverage of ∼70% of the planet represents a significant evolutionary advance in satellite trace gas remote sensing. Tropospheric CO abundances are retrieved from AIRS 4.55 μm spectral region using the full AIRS retrieval algorithm run in a research mode. The presented AIRS daily global CO maps from 22–29 September 2002 show large‐scale, long‐range transport of CO from anthropogenic and natural sources, most notably from biomass burning. The sequence of daily maps reveal CO advection from Brazil to the South Atlantic in qualitative agreement with previous observations. Forward trajectory analysis confirms this scenario and indicates much longer range transport into the southern Indian Ocean. Preliminary comparisons to in situ aircraft profiles indicate AIRS CO retrievals are approaching the 15% accuracy target set by pre‐launch simulations.

[1]  Moustafa T. Chahine,et al.  Remote Sounding of Cloudy Atmospheres. I. The Single Cloud Layer , 1974 .

[2]  N. Sze,et al.  Anthropogenic CO Emissions: Implications for the Atmospheric CO-OH-CH4 Cycle , 1977, Science.

[3]  P. Crutzen,et al.  Biomass burning as a source of atmospheric gases , 1979 .

[4]  P. Crutzen,et al.  Biomass burning as a source of atmospheric gases CO, H2, N2O, NO, CH3Cl and COS , 1979, Nature.

[5]  S. Wofsy,et al.  Tropospheric chemistry: A global perspective , 1981 .

[6]  W. D. Hypes,et al.  Carbon Monoxide Measurements in the Troposphere , 1982, Science.

[7]  F. X. Kneizys,et al.  AFGL atmospheric constituent profiles (0-120km) , 1986 .

[8]  J. Fishman,et al.  The significance of biomass burning as a source of carbon monoxide and ozone in the southern hemisphere tropics: A satellite analysis , 1990 .

[9]  H. A. Wallio,et al.  The distribution of middle tropospheric carbon monoxide during early October 1984 , 1990 .

[10]  J. Levine.  Biomass Burning: Its History, Use, and Distribution and Its Impact on Environmental Quality and Global Climate , 1991 .

[11]  S. D. Probert,et al.  Carbon---monoxide concentration in the Earth's atmosphere , 1994 .

[12]  Daniel J. Jacob,et al.  Convective transport over the central United States and its role in regional CO and ozone budgets , 1994 .

[13]  William L. Smith,et al.  The detection of enhanced carbon monoxide abundances in remotely sensed infrared spectra of a forest fire smoke plume , 1996 .

[14]  Mark R. Schoeberl,et al.  Where did tropospheric ozone over southern Africa and the tropical Atlantic come from in October 1992? Insights from TOMS, GTE TRACE A, and SAFARI 1992 , 1996 .

[15]  V. Connors,et al.  Spaceborne observations of the global distribution of carbon monoxide in the middle troposphere during April and October 1994 , 1999 .

[16]  Clive D Rodgers,et al.  Inverse Methods for Atmospheric Sounding: Theory and Practice , 2000 .

[17]  D. Roy,et al.  The MODIS fire products , 2002 .

[18]  C. O. Justicea,et al.  The MODIS fire products , 2002 .

[19]  J. Lamarque,et al.  Operational carbon monoxide retrieval algorithm and selected results for the MOPITT instrument , 2003 .

[20]  William L. Smith,et al.  AIRS/AMSU/HSB on the Aqua mission: design, science objectives, data products, and processing systems , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[21]  Christopher D. Barnet,et al.  Retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from AIRS/AMSU/HSB data in the presence of clouds , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[22]  J. Lamarque,et al.  Tropospheric ozone over the tropical Atlantic: A satellite perspective , 2003 .

[23]  L. Larrabee Strow,et al.  Validation of the AIRS Radiative Transfer Algorithm , 2003 .

[24]  S. Piketh,et al.  Tropospheric Carbon Monoxide Measurements from the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder on 7 September 2000 in Southern Africa during SAFARI 2000 , 2003 .