The impact of MISR-derived injection height initialization on wildfire and volcanic plume dispersion in the HYSPLIT model

Abstract. The dispersion of particles from wildfires, volcanic eruptions, dust storms, and other aerosol sources can affect many environmental factors downwind, including air quality. Aerosol injection height is one source attribute that mediates downwind dispersion, as wind speed and direction can vary dramatically with elevation. Using plume heights derived from space-based, multi-angle imaging, we examine the impact of initializing plumes in the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory's Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model with satellite-measured vs. nominal (model-calculated or VAAC-reported) injection height on the simulated dispersion of six large aerosol plumes. When there are significant differences in nominal vs. satellite-derived particle injection heights, especially if both heights are in the free troposphere or if one injection height is within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and the other is above the PBL, differences in simulation results can arise. In the cases studied with significant nominal vs. satellite-derived injection height differences, the HYSPLIT model can represent plume evolution better, relative to independent satellite observations, if the injection height in the model is constrained by hyper-stereo satellite retrievals.

[1]  David J. Diner,et al.  Wildfire smoke injection heights: Two perspectives from space , 2008 .

[2]  D. Jaffe,et al.  US particulate matter air quality improves except in wildfire-prone areas , 2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[3]  Mark R. Schoeberl,et al.  Transport of smoke from Canadian forest fires to the surface near Washington, D.C.: Injection height, entrainment, and optical properties , 2004 .

[4]  M. Hort,et al.  Volcanic ash hazard climatology for an eruption of Hekla Volcano, Iceland , 2011 .

[5]  Dan J Stein,et al.  Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 , 2015, BDJ.

[6]  Yang Chen,et al.  Example applications of the MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) software tool to wildfire smoke plume analyses , 2008, Optical Engineering + Applications.

[7]  Bernard Pinty,et al.  Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument description and experiment overview , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[8]  Jan-Peter Muller,et al.  Operational retrieval of cloud-top heights using MISR data , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[9]  Michael J. Garay,et al.  Stereoscopic Height and Wind Retrievals for Aerosol Plumes with the MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) , 2013, Remote. Sens..

[10]  David J. Diner,et al.  Aerosol source plume physical characteristics from space-based multiangle imaging , 2007 .

[11]  Comparison of Model Forecast Skill of Sea Level Pressure along the East and West Coasts of the United States , 2009 .

[12]  Ralph A. Kahn,et al.  MISR research-aerosol-algorithm refinements for dark water retrievals , 2014 .

[13]  Charles Ichoku,et al.  Space‐based observational constraints for 1‐D fire smoke plume‐rise models , 2012 .

[14]  Larry G. Mastin,et al.  A multidisciplinary effort to assign realistic source parameters to models of volcanic ash-cloud transport and dispersion during eruptions , 2009 .

[15]  M. Pavolonis,et al.  Initializing HYSPLIT with satellite observations of volcanic ash: A case study of the 2008 Kasatochi eruption , 2016 .

[16]  Ralph A. Kahn,et al.  Sensitivity of multiangle imaging to natural mixtures of aerosols over ocean , 2001 .

[17]  Susan Paradise,et al.  MISR stereoscopic image matchers: techniques and results , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[18]  S. Freitas,et al.  The importance of plume rise on the concentrations and atmospheric impacts of biomass burning aerosol , 2016 .

[19]  Ralph A. Kahn,et al.  Assessing the Altitude and Dispersion of Volcanic Plumes Using MISR Multi-angle Imaging from Space: Sixteen Years of Volcanic Activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia , 2017 .

[20]  Dan J Stein,et al.  Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 , 2015, BDJ.

[21]  Barbara J. B. Stunder,et al.  Airborne Volcanic Ash Forecast Area Reliability , 2007 .

[22]  P. Pilewskie,et al.  SAM-CAAM: A Concept for Acquiring Systematic Aircraft Measurements to Characterize Aerosol Air Masses. , 2017, Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS).

[23]  Ralph A. Kahn,et al.  Eyjafjallajökull volcano plume particle-type characterization from space-based multi-angle imaging , 2012 .

[24]  R. Draxler,et al.  Description and Verification of the NOAA Smoke Forecasting System: The 2007 Fire Season , 2009 .

[25]  R. Draxler,et al.  NOAA’s HYSPLIT Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling System , 2015 .

[26]  R. Draxler,et al.  Verification of the NOAA Smoke Forecasting System: Model Sensitivity to the Injection Height , 2009 .