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Development of Fire Emissions Inventory Using Satellite Data
Citation:
ROY, D., G. POULIOT, D. MOBLEY, G. Thompson, T. E. PIERCE, A. J. SOJA, J. J. SZYKMAN, AND J. Al-Saadi. Development of Fire Emissions Inventory Using Satellite Data. Chapter 2, Carlos Borrego, Ana Isabel Miranda (ed.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XIX. Springer, New York, NY, , 217-225, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling Division (AMD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
There are multiple satellites observing and reporting fire imagery at various spatial and temporal resolutions and each system has inherent merits and deficiencies. In our study, data are acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) aboard the National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Earth Observing System satellites. The MODIS-equipped satellite is polar orbiting with one daytime equatorial crossing and a 1-km2 resolution product. Fire-counts are obtained from two MODIS instruments aboard two different satellites having 10:30AM and 1:30PM equatorial crossing time, respectively. A general methodology of processing the MODIS data is provided. An effective area burned estimate is obtained independently from a 2002 ground-based fire database. Successful development and application of this technique for characterizing fire emissions in the United States (U.S.) could enhance the development of European techniques for characterization of fire emissions for air quality modeling and its applications.