Ground-based Particulate Matter Monitoring Network for NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) Investigation: Development Status and Preliminary Results
SINA HASHEMINASSAB, David Diner, Araya Asfaw, Jeff Blair, Ann Dillner, John Hall, Brent Holben, Richard Kleidman, Yang Liu, Christian L'Orange, Randall Martin, Brenna Walsh,
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Abstract Number: 465
Working Group: Urban Aerosols
AbstractNASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) investigation, currently in development for launch later this decade, aims to enhance our understanding about the impacts of exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) and its major chemical constituents on human health. The MAIA satellite instrument– a multi-angle imaging spectropolarimeter– will collect targeted measurements of column-integrated aerosols microphysical properties, which will be integrated with measurements from a network of ground-based PM monitors and outputs of the WRF-Chem atmospheric model in order to generate daily maps of near-surface total PM
10, total PM
2.5, and speciated (sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and dust) PM
2.5 mass concentrations at 1 km spatial resolution. The main focus of the MAIA investigation is a selected set of Primary Target Areas (PTAs) covering highly populated metropolitan regions distributed around the world. This presentation will describe the ground-based PM monitoring component of the MAIA project, provide an update on its development status, and present preliminary results collected thus far across different PTAs.
Where available, MAIA project collects data from existing ground-based PM monitoring networks managed by government agencies, research groups, and other sources. In several PTAs, the MAIA project is capitalizing on existing SPARTAN Surface Particular Matter Network for PM
2.5 speciation and expanding this network with additional filter samplers; deploying Aerosol Mass and Optical Depth (AMOD) to complement PM
2.5 speciation networks; and installing AethLabs microAeth MA350 monitors for black carbon measurements in heavily polluted regions. The AMOD units are also equipped with a light-scattering PM sensor and an aerosol sunphotometer and their data may be used outside of the routine MAIA operation for regression training and validation purposes. In Ethiopia, where only a few total PM
2.5 monitors have historically been operating, a set of cost-effective PurpleAir sensors has been deployed to enhance the spatial coverage of ground-based PM
2.5 measurements. Sun and sky scanning radiometers have also been installed in several PTAs as part of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) to serve as pre-launch proxies for MAIA aerosol information.