Severe Wildfires Near Moscow, Russia in 2010: Modeling of Carbon Monoxide Pollution and Comparisons with Observations

The spatial and temporal distributions of the carbon monoxide (CO) concentration were calculated with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and Hybrid Particle and Concentration Transport model (RAMS/HYPACT) in the provinces near Moscow during the abnormally hot summer of 2010. The forest, steppe and meadow hot spots were defined by the satellite data MCD14ML (MODIS Terra and Aqua satellite data). The calculations indicated that the surface CO concentrations from the model were two times less than the experimental data obtained from the Moscow State University (MSU) station and Zvenigorod Scientific Station (ZSS). Conversely, the total column CO concentrations obtained from the model were two to three times larger than the experimental values obtained from the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics (OIAP) and ZSS stations. The vertical transfer of pollutants was overestimated. Tentatively, it could be assumed that an aerosol influence in the model calculations is a reason for the overestimation. The comparisons between the wind speed, temperature and humidity profiles calculated in the model with the data from the standard balloon sounding exhibited good agreement. The CO total column data of the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITTv5 NIR and TIR/NIR) obtained from the OIAP and ZSS stations appear more realistic than do the MOPITTv4 data. However, the surface MOPITT values of CO concentration for Moscow have the large distinction from the ground measurements. A careful proposal regarding satellite orbit optimization was made, which could improve future spectrometric measurements, such as the MOPITT, Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements.