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| Titel |
Near Real Time website for IASI observations of atmospheric anomalies |
| VerfasserIn |
Catherine Hayer, Don Grainger, Kevin Marsh, Elisa Carboni, Lucy Ventress, Andrew Smith |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250089348
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-3548.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Rapid analysis of satellite observations of the state of the atmosphere and the contaminant
levels within it can be used for pollution monitoring, forest fire detection and volcanic activity
monitoring. There are numerous operational satellite instruments for which this is possible.
The IASI instruments, currently flying on board the MetOp-A and MetOp-B satellite
platforms, are used to produce Near Real Time (NRT) data using analysis algorithms
developed by Oxford University. The data is then displayed on a website within 3 hours of
measurement. This allows for the semi-continuous monitoring of the state of the atmosphere
over most of the globe, both in daylight and at night. Global coverage is achieved 4 times per
day, which is a significant advantage over most of the alternatives, either geostationary, giving
limited spatial coverage, or UV instruments which are only able to observe during the
daylight side of the orbit. The website includes flags for atmospheric contaminants
detectable by IASI, including dust, biomass burning-derived species and volcanic
ash and SO2. In the near future, the website will be developed to also include a
quantitative estimate of the mass loading of SO2 contained within any volcanic
cloud.
Emissions of volcanic products, such as ash and SO2, are useful indicators of a change in
the activity level of a volcano. Since many volcanoes are only monitored by remote sensing
methods, such as satellite instruments, this can be the only such indicator available. These
emissions are also dangerous to passing aircraft, causing damage to external surfaces of the
plane and to the engines, sometimes leading to failure. Evacuation of regions surrounding
volcanoes, and cessation or diversion of air traffic around actively erupting volcanoes is
costly and highly disruptive but is sometimes required. Up to date information is of
critical importance as to when to make these sensitive decisions. An archive of data
will be available to allow for easy comparison with previous related events, such
as large dust storms, forest fires or volcanic eruptions over the whole of the IASI
lifetime.
The website is being developed in conjunction with the Centre for Environmental Data
Archival (CEDA). |
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