Canadian Wildfire Smoke Optical Properties Using an Integrated Aerosol Monitoring System

Canadian-born wildfire smoke during summer 2023 was monitored by using multiple remote sensing observation platforms as an integrated aerosol monitoring (IAM) system. The IAM discussed consists of surface PM2.5 concentrations, column optical properties from the Visible Infrared Imager-Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-16) satellite imagery, and AERONET (daytime and lunar data products) and aerosol backscatter profiles from Unified Ceilometer Network (UCN) stations in City College of New York and Hampton University. We discuss the impact of wildfire smoke in terms of the contribution of aerosol optical depth (AOD) below and above the planetary boundary layer from daily UCN ceilometer (elastic lidar) retrievals. The ceilometer AOD is derived from aerosol extinction coefficient profiles obtained by constraining the lidar ratio to NASA AERONET AOD for solar and lunar measurements. AERONET and ceilometer aerosol optical properties are examined to determine their effectiveness in classification of particle pollution. We also assess the effectiveness of obtaining lidar ratio from geostationary satellite AOD.