Influence of fires on atmospheric composition over Greece as seen by TROPOMI S5P

Paper ID: 
cest2021_00781
Topic: 
Climpact: national network for climate change and its impacts
Published under CEST2021
Proceedings ISBN: 978-618-86292-1-9
Proceedings ISSN: 2944-9820
Authors: 
Kalogeraki E., Sfakianaki M., Gialesakis N., Chatziparaschos M., Daskalakis N., (Corresponding) Kanakidou M.
Abstract: 
The present study uses data from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to investigate the impact of the forest fires plumes on atmospheric aerosols and gases. For this purpose, the Aerosol Index, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) Level-2 data have been analyzed. The results show that the fire in Kineta, Attica (in 2018) and the fire in Corinthia (in 2021), enhanced the total CO concentration levels by up to 5.5 times (from 1.5x1018 to 10x1018 molecules/cm2) and up to 4 times from 1.5x1018 to 6x1018 molecules/cm2), respectively. Similarly, the tropospheric NO2 concentration levels have increased by up to 15 times (from 1x1015 to 16x1015 molecules/cm2) and up to 40 times (from 1x1015 to 4x1016 molecules/cm2), respectively. Fires have also increased the atmospheric load of absorbing aerosol as reflected by the increase of the dimensionless AI by up to 6 times (from 0 to 6 and from -2 to 4 respectively).
Keywords: 
wildfires, remote sensing, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, aerosol index, TROPOMI