Satellite Remote Sensing of Biomass Burning Aerosols Using Goes-8

Aerosols continue to be one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate change studies (NRC, 1996). The spatial distribution of aerosols, their chemical composition and microphysical properties are among the important variables that need to be properly measured and modeled before realistic predictions on global climate can be made. While satellite remote sensing is the key towards obtaining global estamates of aerosol properties and their associated radiative impacts, the uncertainties in these estimates must be carefully studied through insitu and surface measurements.

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR) and GOES data is used for detecting biomass burning and dust aerosol and estimating aerosol optical depth.