Biomass burning aerosols observed in Eastern Finland during the Russian wildfires in summer 2010 – Part 2: Remote sensing

In the summer 2010 extensive wildfires in the western parts of Russia emitted massive amounts of smoke and aerosols into the atmosphere. These smoke plumes also drifted to Finland over 1000 km away from the fires. The smoke plumes were detected in Kuopio (Eastern Finland) with a wide range of instruments on two specific days: July 29 and August 8. The plumes were studied with several spaceborne instruments: MODIS, OMI, AIRS and CALIOP. Furthermore, a ground-based remote sensing instrument (Cimel) was also used in the analysis. Our results show that ground-based and spaceborne instruments were in good agreement on the Aerosol optical depth (AOD550) values during the episode (July–mid August). The correlation coefficient between MODIS and AERONET measurements done in Kuopio was 0.98 and the mean difference was 0.005 (AERONET AOD being larger). Spaceborne measurements of carbon monoxide provided a clear indicator for biomass burning aerosols. Particle mass (PM2.5) and AERONET AOD550 measurements were also in good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.87. Single scattering albedo (SSA675) values derived from AERONET measurements and calculated from in-situ absorption and scattering measurements had similar values close 0.9. On average, the daily in-situ SSA values were 0.02 smaller than the corresponding AERONET values. CALIOP provided vertical profiles of the smoke plumes for the two most polluted days in Kuopio. In July the plume was located close to the surface (mainly below 2 km) while in August the plume had two elevated layers: one between 1 and 2 km and the other between 2.5 and 4 km.

► We studied the 2010 Russian wildfires with remote sensing instruments. ► Ground-based and spaceborne instruments were in good agreement. ► Combined ground-based and spaceborne measurements describe the episode thoroughly.