Team Location: John C. Stennis Space Center, Stennis, Mississippi
A map displaying ozone anomalies in the U.S. during August 2012. The map was created by subtracting August climatology ozonesonde measurements from interpolated Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) ozone measurements, with the blues representing lower ozone changes and the yellows and oranges representing higher ozone changes. Image Credit: U.S. Health and Air Quality Team, NASA DEVELOP National Program.
Authors:
Jamie Thompson (University of Southern Mississippi), Project Lead
Heather Nicholson (University of Southern Mississippi)
Brittany Howell (University of Southern Mississippi)
Jordyn Spizale (University of New Orleans)
Mentors/Advisers:
Joseph Spruce (Computer Sciences Corp.)
Past/Other Contributors:
DEVELOP 2013 Spring Appalachian Mountains Health & Air Quality Team, Stennis
Space Center (Aaron Brooks, Shelby Barrett, Jamie Thompson, Yaseen Moussa,
Teneala Spencer)
Abstract:
Wildfires are annual occurrences that have increased in recent years due to climate change. Increases in wildfire occurrences have caused an increase in pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons which can form ozone as well as fine particles (PM 2.5). Ground-level ozone pollution can be increased by wildfires to levels that are potentially harmful to both human and vegetation health.åÊ Many U.S. states rely upon a sparse network of ground-based air quality instruments and the Environmental Protection Agency’s daily Air Quality Index to monitor and forecast air quality conditions.åÊ Some states also use additional models, meteorological data and satellite observations as needed.åÊ However, NASA Earth observations are not widely used for these purposes and therefore hold great potential for enhancing state-level decision support. This project assessed satellite data (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite) from Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership to quantify tropospheric ozone after major wildfires and compared this data to long-term climatology that was produced by Goddard Space Flight Center to determine whether increases in ozone were a direct effect of the wildfire. The purpose of this research was to enhance state-led air quality monitoring, and mitigation efforts during broad-scale fire events.