Given carbon monoxide's (CO) direct production from combustion and role as
an ozone and smog precursor, detailed global observations of CO are
crucial to assessing atmospheric health. Using the 1600 km cross-track
swath and cloud-clearing retrieval capabilities of AIRS, daily global CO
maps can be produced which cover approximately 80% of the planet. Analysis
of these data from the first month of AIRS operation (September 2002)
reveals daily evolution of large-scale, long-range transport of biomass
burning and industrial pollution with unprecedented horizontal resolution
and coverage. The depicted day, 29 September 2002, shows large biomass
burning (slash-and-burn agriculture) source regions over central South
America, Africa, and Indonesia. Time-sequence imaging of global images
over a period of a week shows significant transport to the South Atlantic
and Indian Oceans. At this time of year, North America and European
industrial sources are at a minimum and a mix of industrial and biomass
burning sources contribute in India, China, and Russia. Preliminary
validation indicates AIRS CO retrievals are approaching the 15% accuracy
target set by pre-launch simulations. With these global CO features
heretofore glimpsed only in limited scope, AIRS observations will enable
refinement of models simulating global climate change and provide critical
monitoring of variations in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) in conjunction with the Advanced
Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) sense emitted infrared and microwave
radiation from the Earth to provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather
and climate. Working in tandem, the two instruments can make simultaneous
observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in the presence of
heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the
atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature
and humidity, cloud amounts and heights, greenhouse gas concentrations, and
many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS and AMSU fly onboard NASA's
Aqua spacecraft and are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
California, under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
The AIRS Public Web site can be found at http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov.
