First estimates of the radiative forcing of aerosols generated from biomass burning using satellite data

Collocated measurements from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner are used to examine the radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols generated from biomass burning for 13 images in South America. Using the AVHRR, Local Area Coverage (LAC) data, a new technique based on a combination of spectral and textural measures is developed for detecting these aerosols. Then, the instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and net radiative forcing values are computed from the ERBE instantaneous scanner data. Results for the selected samples from 13 images show that the mean instantaneous net radiative forcing for areas with heavy aerosol loading is about −36 W/m 2 and that for the optically thin aerosols are about −16 W/m 2 . These results, although preliminary, provide the first estimates of radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols from biomass burning using satellite data.