Platform: Satellites

NOAA GOES-17 satellite imagery captured on 21 May 2019 of the wildfires threatening northern Alberta, Canada. More information from NASA Earth Observatory. Animation: NOAA Office of Communications for Satellites

Few technologies have expanded our understanding of Earth as much as satellites have. Since the late 1990s, new space-based instruments have significantly advanced in the detection of atmospheric pollution over global scales. The generation of satellite instruments launched since 1995 measure a wide range of chemicals and physical processes at increasingly high spatial and temporal resolution. In geosynchronous or polar orbits, satellites are able to survey broad swaths of the atmosphere continuously.

In addition, the processing of raw satellite retrievals to user-friendly, archived products has revolutionized the popularity of satellite imagery and supported a wider application of satellite observations to a range of atmospheric investigations.

Satellites are tremendously successful at driving scientific progress, but to make them even more effective, pin-point measurements of different chemicals are needed. To better estimate fire emissions globally, satellite measurements of fire intensity and size are frequently used but must be validated by in-situ measured atmospheric loadings of pollutants in those fire plumes.

One of the main goals of FIREX-AQ is to advance the ability of satellites to contribute to understanding fire impacts on the atmosphere and on air quality. Scientists will be able to relate physical, chemical and meteorological observations captured by aircraft and ground instruments to satellite retrievals to more fully exploit their potential to provide estimates of emissions, chemical transformations, and air quality impacts associated with fires.

Instruments supporting FIREX-AQ

SatelliteInstrumentLaunch Date
Suomi-NPPVIIRS10/28/2011
CrIS
ATMS
OMPS
NOAA-20 (JPSS-1) *VIIRS11/18/2017
CrIS
ATMS
OMPS
GOES-R SERIESABI
GOES-16ABI: Improvements11/19/2016
GLM
GOES-17ABI3/1/2018
GLM
AquaMODIS5/4/2002
AIRS
AMSU
AuraOMI7/15/2004
MLS
TerraMODIS12/18/1999
MOPITT
MISR
Sentinel-5 PrecursorTROPOMI10/13/2017

* NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) / NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)