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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of GEOS Aerosols Using CAMP2Ex Observations

Biomass burning aerosol impacts aspects of the atmosphere and Earth system through direct and semi-direct effects, as well as influencing air quality. Despite its importance, the representation of biomass burning aerosol is not always accurate in numerical weather prediction and climate models or reanalysis products. Using observations collected as part of the Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex) in August through October of 2019, aerosol concentration and optical properties are evaluated within the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) and its underlying aerosol module, GOCART. In the operational configuration, GEOS assimilates aerosol optical depth observations at 550 nm from AERONET and MODIS to constrain aerosol fields. Particularly for biomass burning aerosol, without the assimilation of aerosol optical depth, aerosol extinction is underestimated compared to observations collected in the Philippines region during the CAMP2Ex campaign. The assimilation process adds excessive amounts of carbon to account for the underestimated extinction, resulting in positive biases in the mass of black and organic carbon, especially within the boundary layer, relative to in situ observations from the Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment. Counteracting this, GEOS is deficient in sulfate and nitrate aerosol just above the boundary layer. Aerosol extinction within GEOS is a function of the mass of different aerosol species, the ambient relative humidity, the assumed spectral optical properties, and particle size distribution per species. The relationship between dry and ambient extinction in GEOS reveals that hygroscopic growth is too high within the model for biomass burning aerosol. An additional concern lies in the assumed particle size distribution for GEOS, which has a single mode radius that is too small for organic carbon. Variability in the observed particle size distribution for biomass burning aerosol within a single flight also illuminates the fact that a single assumed particle size distribution is not sufficient and that for a proper representation, a more advanced aerosol module within GEOS may be necessary.

Allison Collow↗
NASA NTRS2018

Characterization of Wildfire Emissions in California: Analysis of Airborne Measurements of Trace Gases from 2013 to 2016

Biomass burning, which includes wildfires, prescribed, and agricultural fires, is an important source of trace gases and particles, and can influence air quality on a local, regional, and global scale. Biomass burning emissions are an important source of several key trace gases including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). With the threat of wildfire events increasing due to changes in land use, increasing population, and climate change, the importance of characterizing wildfire emissions is vital. In this work we characterize trace gas emissions from 9 wildfire events in California between 2013 – 2016, in some cases with multiple measurements performed during different burn periods of a specific wildfire. During this period airborne measurements of CO2, CH4, water vapor (H2O), ozone (O3), and formaldehyde (HCHO) were made by the Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX). Located in the Bay Area of California, AJAX is a joint effort between NASA Ames Research Center and H211, LLC. AJAX makes in-situ airborne measurements of trace gases 2-4 times per month, resulting in 229 flights to date since 2011. Results presented include emission ratios (ER) of trace gases measured by AJAX during fire flights, and comparisons of ERs are made for each fire, which differ in time, location, burning intensity, and fuel type. We also use our airborne measurements to compare with photochemical grid model results to assess model approximations of plume transport and chemical evolution from select wildfires.

Parworth, Caroline L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Expanding SPoRT RGBs and Machine Learning Techniques to Enhance Air Quality Monitoring in Southern Asia

Air pollution poses significant environmental, public health, and societal concerns in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region of south-central Asia, notably during the dry monsoon months (~November to May). Key contributors to poor air quality include dust from the Middle East and western India, persistent nocturnal fog/smog, and biomass burning. To address this issue, we established a robust air quality and chemistry observation and modeling product suite utilizing multi-spectral red-green-blue (RGB) composite satellite products from Korea’s GEO-KOMPSAT-2A satellite, the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model for dust transport forecasts, and the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model to predict aerosols and chemical species concentrations. Our team employed similar RGB recipes transitioned by the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center for the GOES-R era products over the Western Hemisphere, with significant success in depicting dust and nocturnal fog / low clouds, and to a lesser extent smoke and fire hot spots. We will extend these capabilities for the HKH region by applying an artificial intelligence (AI) model that objectively identifies dust from multi-spectral satellite data over the Southwestern United States. The AI model will be calibrated for automated dust detection over HKH from GEO-KOMPSAT-2A satellite data, with a goal of developing a similar AI model for objectively identifying smoke as well. The ultimate goal of this effort is to enhance dust and smoke predictions in the region by establishing improved emission initializations in HYSPLIT and/or WRF-Chem through the automated AI detection of dust and smoke.

Jonathan L. Case↗
NASA NTRS2016

Satellite-Surface Perspectives of Air Quality and Aerosol-Cloud Effects on the Environment: An Overview of 7-SEAS BASELInE

The objectives of 7-SEASBASELInE (Seven SouthEast Asian Studies Biomass-burning Aerosols and Stratocumulus Environment: Lifecycles and Interactions Experiment) campaigns in spring 2013-2015 were to synergize measurements from uniquely distributed ground-based networks (e.g., AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork)), MPLNET ( NASA Micro-Pulse Lidar Network)) and sophisticated platforms (e.g.,SMARTLabs (Surface-based Mobile Atmospheric Research and Testbed Laboratories), regional contributing instruments), along with satellite observations retrievals and regional atmospheric transport chemical models to establish a critically needed database, and to advance our understanding of biomass-burning aerosols and trace gases in Southeast Asia (SEA). We present a satellite-surface perspective of 7-SEASBASELInE and highlight scientific findings concerning: (1) regional meteorology of moisture fields conducive to the production and maintenance of low-level stratiform clouds over land; (2) atmospheric composition in a biomass-burning environment, particularly tracers-markers to serve as important indicators for assessing the state and evolution of atmospheric constituents; (3) applications of remote sensing to air quality and impact on radiative energetics, examining the effect of diurnal variability of boundary-layer height on aerosol loading; (4) aerosol hygroscopicity and ground-based cloud radar measurements in aerosol-cloud processes by advanced cloud ensemble models; and (5) implications of air quality, in terms of toxicity of nanoparticles and trace gases, to human health. This volume is the third 7-SEAS special issue (after Atmospheric Research, vol. 122, 2013; and Atmospheric Environment, vol. 78, 2013) and includes 27 papers published, with emphasis on air quality and aerosol-cloud effects on the environment. BASELInE observations of stratiform clouds over SEA are unique, such clouds are embedded in a heavy aerosol-laden environment and feature characteristically greater stability over land than over ocean, with minimal radar surface clutter at a high vertical spatial resolution. To facilitate an improved understanding of regional aerosol-cloud effects, we envision that future BASELInE-like measurement modeling needs fall into two categories: (1) efficient yet critical in-situ profiling of the boundary layer for validating remote-sensing retrievals and for initializing regional transport chemical and cloud ensemble models; and (2) fully utilizing the high observing frequencies of geostationary satellites for resolving the diurnal cycle of the boundary layerheight as it affects the loading of biomass-burning aerosols, air quality and radiative energetics.

AERONET↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A34F-01: Agricultural Emission Factors from FIREX-AQ

Prescribed fires are a frequent tool for land management, used for both land-clearing and agricultural activities. Determining emissions and subsequent air quality impacts from these fires requires emission factors appropriate for the type of biomass being burned. The NOAA/NASA Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign that took place from July to September 2019 provided comprehensive sampling of prescribed fires in the Eastern United States. We calculate emission factors for agricultural and land-clearing activities from FIREX-AQ and the dependence of these emission factors on fuel type/burning characteristics (i.e., modified combustion efficiency).

Katherine R Travis↗
NASA NTRS2019

Measurement of Cyanobacterial Bloom Magnitude Using Satellite Remote Sensing

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyano HABs) are a serious environmental, water quality and public health issue worldwide because of their ability to form dense biomass and produce toxins. Models and algorithms have been developed to detect and quantify cyanoHABs biomass using remotely sensed data but not for quantifying bloom magnitude,information that would guide water quality management decisions. We propose a method to quantify seasonal and annual cyanoHAB magnitude in lakes and reservoirs. The magnitude is the spatio temporal mean of weekly or biweekly maximum cyanobacteria biomass for the season or year. CyanoHAB biomass is quantified using a standard reflectance spectral shape based algorithm that uses data from Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). We demonstrate the method to quantify annual and seasonal cyanoHAB magnitude in Florida and Ohio (USA) respectively during 2003-2011 and rank the lakes based on median magnitude over the study period. The new method can be applied to Sentinel-3 Ocean Land Color Imager (OLCI) data for assessment of cyanoHABs and the change over time, even with issues such as variable data acquisition frequency or sensor calibration uncertainties between satellites. CyanoHAB magnitude can support monitoring and management decision making for recreational and drinking water sources.

Sachidananda Mishra↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Biomass burning declines lead to large net reductions in NO2 concentrations over north equatorial Africa in spite of growing fossil fuel emissions

Socio-economic development in low and middle-income countries has been accompanied by increased emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx: nitrogen dioxide (NO2) + nitric oxide (NO)), which affect human health. In sub-Saharan Africa, fossil fuel combustion has nearly doubled since 2000. At the same time, biomass burning—another important NOx source—has declined in Africa’s northern biomass burning region, attributed to changes in climate and anthropogenic fire management associated with agricultural development. Here we use satellite observations of tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) and burned area to identify NO2 trends and drivers over Africa. Across the northern ecosystems where biomass burning occurs—home to over 350 million people—mean annual tropospheric NO2 VCDs decreased by 4.5% from 2005 through 2017 during the biomass burning season of November through February. Reductions in burned area explained the majority of these change in NO2 VCDs, but there were also weaker relationships between changes in NO2 VCDs and fossil fuel emissions over parts of West Africa, which were stronger during rainy season. Over Africa’s biomass burning regions, NO2 VCDs tended to decrease with increasing population density up to a threshold of approximately 180 people per km2, suggesting that anthropogenic activity causes a net reduction in NO2 emissions across roughly 90% of the continent’s biomass burning regions. In contrast to the widely-held perception that socio-economic development worsens air quality in low and middle-income nations, our results suggest that countries in Africa’s northern biomass burning region are following a different pathway, resulting in regional air quality benefits. However, these benefits may be lost with increasing fossil fuel use.

Biomass burning↗
NASA NTRS2016

COMMIT in 7-SEAS/BASELInE: Operation of and Observations from a Novel, Mobile Laboratory for Measuring In-Situ Properties of Aerosols and Gases

Trace gases and aerosols (particularly biomass-burning aerosols) have important implications for air quality and climate studies in Southeast Asia (SEA). This paper describes the purpose, operation, and datasets collected from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's (NASA/GSFC) Chemical, Optical, and Microphysical Measurements of In-situ Troposphere (COMMIT) laboratory, a mobile platform designed to measure trace gases and optical/microphysical properties of naturally occurring and anthropogenic aerosols. More importantly, the laboratory houses a specialized humidification system to characterize hygroscopic growth/enhancement, a behavior that affects aerosol properties and cloud-aerosol interactions and is generally underrepresented in the current literature. A summary of the trace gas and optical/microphysical measurements is provided, along with additional detail and analysis of data collected from the hygroscopic system during the 2015 Seven South-East Asian Studies (7-SEAS) field campaign. The results suggest that data from the platform are reliable and will complement future studies of aerosols and air quality in SEA and other regions of interest.

aerosols↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Use of Satellite-Measured Aerosol Optical Depth to Constrain Biomass Burning Emissions Source Strength in a Global Model GOCART

Small particles in the atmosphere, called "atmospheric aerosol" have a direct effect on Earth climate through scattering and absorbing sunlight, and also an indirect effect by changing the properties of clouds, as they interact with solar radiation as well. Aerosol typically stays in the atmosphere for several days, and can be transported long distances, affecting air quality, visibility, and human health not only near the source, but also far downwind. Smoke from vegetation fires is one of the main sources of atmospheric aerosol; other sources include anthropogenic pollution, dust, and sea salt. Chemistry transport models (CTMs) are among the major tools for studying the atmospheric and climate effects of aerosol. Due to the considerable variation of aerosol concentrations and properties on many temporal and spatial scales, and the complexity of the processes involved, the uncertainties in aerosol effects on climate are large, as is featured in the latest report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. Reducing this uncertainty in the models is very important both for predicting future climate scenarios and for regional air quality forecasting and mitigation. During vegetation fires, also called biomass burning (BB) events, complex mixture of gases and particles is emitted. The amount of BB emissions is usually estimated taking into account the intensity and size of the fire and the properties of burning vegetation. These estimates are input into CTMs to simulate BB aerosol. Unfortunately, due to large variability of fire and vegetation properties, the quantity of BB emissions is very difficult to estimate and BB emission inventories provide numbers that can differ by up to the order of magnitude in some regions. Larger uncertainties in data input make uncertainties in model output larger as well. A powerful way to narrow the range of possible model estimates is to compare model output to observations. We use satellite observations of aerosol properties, specifically aerosol optical depth, which is directly proportional to the amount of aerosol in the atmosphere, and compare it to the model output. Assuming the model represents aerosol transport and particle properties correctly, the amount of BB emissions determines the simulated aerosol optical depth. In this study, we explore the regional performance of 13 commonly used emission estimates. These are each input to global Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model. We then evaluate how well each emission estimate reproduces the smoke aerosol optical depth measured by the MODIS instrument. We compared GOCART-simulate aerosol optical depth with that measured from the satellite for 124 fire cases around the world during 2006 and 2007. We summarize the regional performance of each emission inventory and discuss reasons for their differences by considering the assumptions made during their development. We also show that because stronger wind disperses smoke plumes more readily, in cases with stronger wind, a larger increase in emission amount is needed to increase aerosol optical depth. In quiet, low-wind-speed environments, BB emissions produce a more significant increase in aerosol optical depth, other things being equal. Using the region-specific, quantitative relationships derived in our paper, together with the wind speed obtained from another source for a given fire case, we can constrain the amount of emission required in the model to reproduce the observations. The results of this paper are useful to the developers of BB emission inventories, as they show the strengths and weaknesses of individual emission inventories in different regions of the globe, and also for modelers who use these inventories and wish to improve their model results.

Petrenko, Mariya↗
NASA NTRS2016

Impacts of Brown Carbon from Biomass Burning on Surface UV and Ozone Photochemistry in the Amazon Basin

The spectral dependence of light absorption by atmospheric particulate matter has major implications for air quality and climate forcing, but remains uncertain especially in tropical areas with extensive biomass burning. In the September-October 2007 biomass-burning season in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, we studied light absorbing (chromophoric) organic or brown carbon (BrC) with surface and space-based remote sensing. We found that BrC has negligible absorption at visible wavelengths, but significant absorption and strong spectral dependence at UV wavelengths. Using the ground-based inversion of column effective imaginary refractive index in the range 305368nm, we quantified a strong spectral dependence of absorption by BrC in the UV and diminished ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation reaching the surface. Reduced UV-B means less erythema, plant damage, and slower photolysis rates. We use a photochemical box model to show that relative to black carbon (BC) alone, the combined optical properties of BrC and BC slow the net rate of production of ozone by up to 18 and lead to reduced concentrations of radicals OH, HO2, and RO2 by up to 17, 15, and 14, respectively. The optical properties of BrC aerosol change in subtle ways the generally adverse effects of smoke from biomass burning.

UV absorption OMI↗
NASA NTRS2026

Timing the Flames: Geostationary Satellite Detection of Diurnally Shifting Stubble Burning in Northwestern India

Post-monsoon open-field stubble burning in northwestern (NW) India—a key agricultural region known as the “breadbasket”—is a longstanding practice used to clear fields. Satellite observations spanning over two decades have revealed significant upward trends in crop production, vegetative greenness, and the frequency of post-harvest fires, with this last contributing to hazardous air quality during the peak burning season (mid-October to mid-November). Since 2022, thermal anomaly data from Aqua-MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS sensors have shown a sharp decline in reported fire events—an observation that contrasts starkly with the concurrent rise in regional aerosol loading detected from space. This apparent discrepancy became particularly pronounced in 2024–2025, prompting a closer examination using high-temporal-resolution imagery from the Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) on the geostationary satellite GEO-KOMPSAT-2A. These observations revealed a clear spike in fire-related signals occurring around and after 4:00 p.m. local time, i.e., outside the typical noon to 2:00 p.m. detection window of the MODIS and VIIRS. A fire detection algorithm exploiting the fire-sensitive shortwave-infrared 3.8 μm signal and its contrast to 11.2 μm infrared observations is designed to adopt AMI observations and applied to its multi-year observations (2019–2025). The resulting fire dataset unambiguously shows a gradual shift in stubble burning activity toward the late afternoon hours beginning in 2022 which is underreported by polar-orbiting satellites. The orbital drift of NASA’s MODIS sensor on the Aqua platform allows detection of some of the gradually shifting fires during afternoon hours, but the MODIS still misses a large number of fires occurring around and after 4 p.m. The AMI’s relatively coarse spatial resolution (~4 km), a consequence of its slant viewing geometry over NW India, imposes inherent limitations on quantifying the full extent of fire occurrences. The operational air quality forecasting models currently assimilate satellite fire detections predominantly captured during early afternoon overpasses of the MODIS and VIIRS. The temporal shift in fire activity complicates such forecast, leading to a substantial underestimation of emissions. Intense stubble burning and the resulting air pollution highlight the need for effective crop residue management practices for mitigating the frequency of open biomass burning and thereby reducing episodic degradation of air quality and its associated public health and economic impacts.

post-monsoon stubble burning; northwestern India;↗
NASA NTRS1986

Error analysis of leaf area estimates made from allometric regression models

Biological net productivity, measured in terms of the change in biomass with time, affects global productivity and the quality of life through biochemical and hydrological cycles and by its effect on the overall energy balance. Estimating leaf area for large ecosystems is one of the more important means of monitoring this productivity. For a particular forest plot, the leaf area is often estimated by a two-stage process. In the first stage, known as dimension analysis, a small number of trees are felled so that their areas can be measured as accurately as possible. These leaf areas are then related to non-destructive, easily-measured features such as bole diameter and tree height, by using a regression model. In the second stage, the non-destructive features are measured for all or for a sample of trees in the plots and then used as input into the regression model to estimate the total leaf area. Because both stages of the estimation process are subject to error, it is difficult to evaluate the accuracy of the final plot leaf area estimates. This paper illustrates how a complete error analysis can be made, using an example from a study made on aspen trees in northern Minnesota. The study was a joint effort by NASA and the University of California at Santa Barbara known as COVER (Characterization of Vegetation with Remote Sensing).

Feiveson, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Pick-and-Eat Salad-Crop Productivity, Nutritional Value, and Acceptability to Supplement the ISS Food System

The capability to grow nutritious, palatable food for crew consumption during spaceflight has the potential to provide health-promoting, bioavailable nutrients, enhance the dietary experience, and reduce launch mass as we move toward longer-duration missions. However, studies of edible produce during spaceflight have been limited, leaving a significant knowledge gap in the methods required to grow safe, acceptable, nutritious crops for consumption in space. Researchers from Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center, Purdue University and ORBITEC have teamed up to explore the potential for plant growth and food production on the International Space Station (ISS) and future exploration missions. KSC, Purdue, and ORBITEC bring a history of plant and plant-microbial interaction research for ISS and for future bioregenerative life support systems. JSC brings expertise in Advanced Food Technology (AFT), Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP), and statistics. The Veggie vegetable-production system on the ISS offers an opportunity to develop a pick-and-eat fresh vegetable component to the ISS food system as a first step to bioregenerative supplemental food production. We propose growing salad plants in the Veggie unit during spaceflight, focusing on the impact of light quality and fertilizer formulation on crop morphology, edible biomass yield, microbial food safety, organoleptic acceptability, nutritional value, and behavioral health benefits of the fresh produce. The first phase of the project will involve flight tests using leafy greens, with a small Chinese cabbage variety, Tokyo bekana, previously down selected through a series of research tests as a suitable candidate. The second phase will focus on dwarf tomato. Down selection of candidate varieties have been performed, and the dwarf cultivar Red Robin has been selected as the test crop. Four light treatments and three fertilizer treatments will be tested for each crop on the ground, to down select to two light treatments and one fertilizer treatment to test on ISS. Our work will help define light colors, levels, and horticultural best practices to achieve high yields of safe, nutritious leafy greens and tomatoes to supplement a space diet of prepackaged food. Our final deliverable will be the development of growth protocols for these crops in a spaceflight vegetable production system. With this work, and potentially with other pending joint projects, we will continue the synergistic research to help close gaps in the human research roadmap, and enable humans to venture to Mars and beyond. This research was co-funded by the Human Research Program and Space Biology (MTL1075) in the ILSRA 2015 NRA call.

Behavioral Health↗
NASA NTRS2000

Global Monitoring of Air Pollution Using Spaceborne Sensors

The MODIS sensor onboard EOS-Terra satellite provides not only daily global coverage but also high spectral (36 channels from 0.41 to 14 microns wavelength) and spatial (250m, 500m and 1km) resolution measurements. A similar MODIS instrument will be also configured into EOS-Aqua satellite to be launched soon. Using the complementary EOS-Terra and EOS-Aqua sun-synchronous orbits (10:30 AM and 1:30 PM equator-crossing time respectively), it enables us also to study the diurnal changes of the Earth system. It is unprecedented for the derivation of aerosol properties with such high spatial resolution and daily global converge. Aerosol optical depth and other aerosol properties, e.g., Angstrom coefficient over land and particle size over ocean, are derived as standard products at a spatial resolution of 10 x 10 sq km. The high resolution results are found surprisingly useful in detecting aerosols in both urban and rural regions as a result of urban/industrial pollution and biomass burning. For long-lived aerosols, the ability to monitoring the evolution of these aerosol events could help us to establish an system of air quality especially for highly populated areas. Aerosol scenarios with city pollution and biomass burning will be presented. Also presented are the method used in the derivation of aerosol optical properties and preliminary results will be presented, and issue as well as obstacles in validating aerosol optical depth with AERONET ground-based observations.

Chu, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Characterization of Proteins in Filtrate from Biodegradation of Crop Residue

Biodegradation of plant biomass is a feasible path for transformation of crop residue and recycling of nutrients for crop growth. The need to model the effects of factors associated with recycling of plant biomass resulting from hydroponic sweet potato production has led to investigation of natural soil isolates with the capacity for starch hydrolysis. This study sought to use nondenaturing gel electrophoresis to characterize the proteins present in filtered effluent from bioreactors seeded with starch hydrolyzing bacterial culture used in the biodegradation of senesced sweet potato biomass. The study determined the relative molecular weight of proteins in sampled effluent and the protein banding pattern was characterized. The protein profiles of effluent were similar for samples taken from independent runs under similar conditions of starch hydrolysis. The method can be used as a quality control tool for confirmation of starch hydrolysis of crop biomass. In addition, this method will allow monitoring for presence of contaminants within the system-protein profiles indicative of new enzymes in the bioreactors.

Horton, Wileatha↗
NASA NTRS2020

Influence of Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology on the Long-Range Transport of Indochina Biomass Burning Aerosols

Impacts of long-range transported biomass burning aerosols from northern Indochina on regional air quality, atmospheric visibility, and climate effects have been discussed extensively in the literature over the past decade. However, the mechanism between aerosol transport and the low-level jet (LLJ) in synoptic meteorology dynamics (e.g., the frontal system) is still not fully understood. In this study, we present results of aerosol-LLJ interaction based on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Application version 2 (NASA/MERRA-2) dataset simultaneous to field campaigns in spring 2013–2015 over Southeast Asia. For linking the atmospheric circulation to aerosol transport, a general meteorological condition favorable for aerosol transport is demonstrated. Biomass burning aerosol accumulation over the source region (i.e., northern Indochina) coincided with weak westerly system over the northern South China Sea, and as the synoptic weather system evolved, the aerosols were transported to downwind regions (i.e., Taiwan and West Pacific) by a cold front and LLJ dynamics. The MERRA-2 reanalysis data show the postcold front accompanied a LLJ stream at approximately 700 hPa (3 km) and accelerated the haze plume transport eastward with a life cycle of approximately 3–5 days, an event that reoccurred multiple times from March to April. Our results indicate that coexistence of LLJ and a South China Sea anticyclone at 700 hPa, which primarily could drive the mechanism behind these transport events. Furthermore, more observational data from Southeast Asia would greatly benefit studies of aerosol-meteorology interactions in the region.

Hsiang-Yu Huang↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Biomass Burning and Fossil Fuel Apportionment via Greenhouse Gas Enhancement Ratios Over Southeast Asia as Measured During ASIA-AQ

As Southeast Asian economies continue to grow, so will their contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, driven primarily by increases in fossil fuel combustion. Left unchecked, these emissions will negatively impact air quality and climate, therefore it is imperative that emission sources are properly identified and accounted for in emission inventories. Enhancement ratios of GHGs have been used to characterize regional emissions as either dominated by fossil fuel combustion or biomass burning. In particular, airborne assessment of short-term continuous emission ratios has proven useful to quantify relative contributions of fossil fuel and biomass burning to GHG emissions. The 2024 Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) campaign, flying over the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, sampled a variety of emissions including significant biomass burning, local urban pollution, and transport events. This work will explore the impact of GHG emissions on the distinctive pollution of the sampled locations. As airborne GHG measurements over Southeast Asia are scarce if not nonexistent, this work provides a crucial link between established ground-based measurements and state-of-the-art satellite observations such as those from South Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS). Analysis of GHG enhancement ratios in East Asia will lead to more accurate emission inventories which can be used to implement more effective GHG control measures leading to improved air quality and minimizing the effect on climate.

ASIA-AQ↗
NASA NTRS1996

Recycle of Inorganic Nutrients for Hydroponic Crop Production Following Incineration of Inedible Biomass

Recovery of resources from waste streams is essential for future implementation and reliance on a regenerative life support system. The major waste streams of concern are from human activities and plant wastes. Carbon, water and inorganics are the primary desired raw materials of interest. The goal of resource recovery is maintenance of product quality to insure support of reliable and predictable levels of life support function performance by the crop plant component. Further, these systems must be maintained over extended periods of time, requiring maintenance of nutrient solutions to avoid toxicity and deficiencies. Today, reagent grade nutrients are used to make nutrient solutions for hydroponic culture and these solutions are frequently changed during the life cycle or sometimes managed for only one crop life cycle. The focus of this study was to determine the suitability of the ash product following incineration of inedible biomass as a source of inorganic nutrients for hydroponic crop production. Inedible wheat biomass was incinerated and ash quality characterized. The incinerator ash was dissolved in adequate nitric acid to establish a consistent nitrogen concentration in all nutrient solution treatments. Four experimental nutrient treatments were included: control, ash only, ash supplemented to match control, and ash only quality formulated with reagent grade chemicals. When nutrient solutions are formulated using only ash following-incineration of inedible biomass, a balance in solution is established representing elemental retention following incineration and nutrient proportions present in the original biomass. The resulting solution is not identical to the control. This imbalance resulted in suppression of crop growth. When the ash is supplemented with nutrients to establish the same balance as in the control, growth is identical to the control. The ash appears to carry no phytotoxic materials. Growth in solution formulated with reagent grade chemicals but matching the quality of the ash only treatment resulted in growth similar to that of the ash only treatment. The ash product resulting from incineration of inedible biomass appears to be a suitable form for recycle of inorganic nutrients to crop production.

Bubenheim, David L.↗