Aaron is a Research Scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. He serves as the TEMPO Mission Applications Lead, manages the TEMPO Early Adopters program, and leads the air quality thematic area at the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT).
HAQAST Project: Advancing the Use of TEMPO Data for Wildland Fire Management
Aaron’s project aims to advance air quality monitoring and forecasting tools for wildland fire smoke with special attention on TEMPO data products, especially near real-time products and prescribed burns in the southeast U.S. The team will work with collaborating stakeholders to include exceptional event analyses and reporting into the suite of tools. The value-added TEMPO products from this project will help fill the gaps in surface air quality monitors that can enable prescribed fire managers to form better decisions around prescribed fires.
Project goals / deliverables:
- Evaluate TEMPO standard NO2, HCHO, and O3 products along with near real time NO2, HCHO, and aerosol products for monitoring wildland fire smoke plumes
- Develop and refine machine learning models for estimating surface-level NO2 and O3 concentrations based on TEMPO products
- Advance HYSPLIT dispersion model used by US Forest Service for improving smoke forecasts from prescribed burns
- Design ArcGIS dashboard for visualizing satellite data for wildland fires with emphasis on prescribed burns
- Support inclusion of satellite and model products into air quality reports and exceptional event analyses
Co-investigators and partners: Andrew White (University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA SPoRT), Jon Case (ENSCO, NASA SPoRT), Kevin Fuell (University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA SPoRT), Aaron Pina (USDA Forest Service), James Furman (USDA Forest Service), Brett Williams (US Forest Service), Byeong Kim (Georgia Department of Natural Resources