Faculty Publications

Atmospheric Aerosol Measurements Over Iowa

Document Type

Conference

Keywords

Mixed layer, MODIS, Particulate matter, Satellite data, Surface measurements

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Proceedings of the Air and Waste Management Association's Annual Conference and Exhibition, AWMA

Volume

2005

Abstract

An assessment of remotely-sensed and ground-based measurements of atmospheric aerosol over Iowa during the 2000-2003 growing and harvesting seasons and analysis of several episodic pollution events within that time period were presented. Point sources (industrial plants) as well as area sources (transportation, fugitive dust from unpaved roads, agricultural activities) contribute to particulate matter (PM). Satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth were linearly correlated with ground-based data. Aerosol concentration was inversely related to the depth of the mixed layer. These results emphasized the importance of integrating satellite observations with surface measurements as well the depth of the atmospheric mixed layer when evaluating aerosol distribution. Several episodes of elevated particulate concentration were detected. Results of speciation analysis and historical information on PM2.5 point sources suggested that PM over southeast Iowa most likely originated from power generation and agricultural activities. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 98th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition (Minneapolis, MN 6/21-24/2005).

Department

Department of Earth Science

Original Publication Date

12-1-2005

This document is currently not available here.

Comments?

Share

COinS