Lu, Zheng and Irina N. Sokolik, Georgia Institute of
Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Atlanta, GA
WRF-Chem-SMOKE is a
modified version of the public WRF-Chem model with a fully coupled atmospheric
dynamic-aerosol-cloud microphysics-precipitation-radiation modules. In this
study, we examine the emission and impact of smoke aerosols during an extreme
fire season in summer 2002 in the Yakutsk region, Russia. MODIS active fire
products were used to compute the smoke emission that provides an input into
the WRF-Chem-SMOKE model. A new module was developed to compute size- and
composition-resolved smoke aerosols based on MODIS fire radiative power (FRP).
The FRP-based emission was evaluated against independent data, including the
Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). In addition, 3D smoke fields and aerosol
optical depth (AOD) simulated with WRF-Chem-SMOKE were compared against
satellite data (MODIS AOD and OMI AI) to further assess the realism of the
FRP-based smoke emission. Smoke-induced changes in cloud properties (LWP, IWP,
etc.) and resulting changes in the amount and spatiotemporal distribution of
precipitation were examined.