Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

The objective of this study is to test the interpolation technique of Kriging interpolation for carbon dioxide (CO) mapping over peninsular Malaysia. We present the observations of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) by the atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) onboard NASA’s Aqua Satellite. Comparisons of atmospheric carbon monoxide volume mixing ratio profiles (CO_VMR_eff_A) and CO total column amount (CO_total_column_A), Level-3 Daily (AIRX3STD) 1°×1° spatial resolution, as well as Effective CO Volume Mixing Ratio profile (CO_VMR_eff) (9 layers) ascending, Level-2 Daily (AIRX2RET) Standard are presented from AIRS for two different periods, ascending (14/8/2005 & 13/8/2007) for both direct comparison and the comparison using the same a priori profile to study the abundance of carbon monoxide over peninsular Malaysia and the forest fires influences on its concentration. Observe a daily variation in CO emissions from the Indonesia forests fires with varying magnitudes in peak emission occurring in the regions that experienced extensive wildfires. The strong impact of forest fires makes it difficult to detect any evidence of the CO emission from industrial contributions on daily timescales. Examining satellite measurements, we find the enhanced CO emission correlates with large sources in Industrial and congested urban zones for normal circumstances, while the highest values of CO occurred when biomass burning during Indonesia forest fires on August 2005. Kriging interpolation technique produced the high accuracy based on the R and RMS value in this study. It is concluded that this technique accurately and precisely mapped CO concentration from AIRS data over peninsular Malaysia, and the Satellite measurements are able to measure the increase of troposphere CO concentrations over different regions.

Full text

September 2010, Volume 4, No.9 (Serial No.34)
Journal of Materials Science and Engineering, ISSN 1934-8959, USA
Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over
Peninsular Malaysia
Jasim Mohammed Rajab, Hwee San Lim, Mohad Zubir MatJafri and Khiruldden Abdullah
School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
Received: February 25, 2010 / Accepted: March 16, 2010 / Published: September 25, 2010.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to test the interpolation technique of Kriging interpolation for carbon dioxide (CO) mapping
over peninsular Malaysia. We present the observations of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) by the atmospheric infrared sounder
(AIRS) onboard NASA’s Aqua Satellite. Comparisons of atmospheric carbon monoxide volume mixing ratio profiles
(CO_VMR_eff_A) and CO total column amount (CO_total_column_A), Level-3 Daily (AIRX3STD) 1˚×1˚ spatial resolution, as well
as Effective CO Volume Mixing Ratio profile (CO_VMR_eff) (9 layers) ascending, Level-2 Daily (AIRX2RET) Standard are
presented from AIRS for two different periods, ascending (14/8/2005 & 13/8/2007) for both direct comparison and the comparison
using the same a priori profile to study the abundance of carbon monoxide over peninsular Malaysia and the forest fires influences on
its concentration. Observe a daily variation in CO emissions from the Indonesia forests fires with varying magnitudes in peak emission
occurring in the regions that experienced extensive wildfires. The strong impact of forest fires makes it difficult to detect any evidence
of the CO emission from industrial contributions on daily timescales. Examining satellite measurements, we find the enhanced CO
emission correlates with large sources in Industrial and congested urban zones for normal circumstances, while the highest values of
CO occurred when biomass burning during Indonesia forest fires on August 2005. Kriging interpolation technique produced the high
accuracy based on the R and RMS value in this study. It is concluded that this technique accurately and precisely mapped CO
concentration from AIRS data over peninsular Malaysia, and the Satellite measurements are able to measure the increase of troposphere
CO concentrations over different regions.
Key words: CO, AIRS, peninsular Malaysia, AMSU.
1. Introduction
Southeast Asia which is Malaysia one of its part,
experiencing a similar rapid economic growth to that in
Northeast Asia, is also a large source of several air
pollutants and may make an important contribution to
regional and global pollution because of increasing
anthropogenic emissions associated with biogenic
emissions from large tropical forests. In tropical
regions the greater oxidizing capacity are due to higher
UV intensity and humidity, and rapid development and
industrialization [1, 2].
Carbon monoxide is a gaseous byproduct from the
burning of fossil fuels, in automobiles and industry, as
Corresponding author: Jasim Mohammed Rajab (1966- ),
male, Ph.D., research field: retrieval of atmospheric greenhouse
Gases. E-mail: jasim_rijab@yahoo.com.
well as burning of grasslands and forests, and its
concentration of as little as 400 ppm (0.04%) in the air
can be fatal. The levels of normal carboxyhemoglobin
in an average person are less than 5%, whereas
cigarette smokers (two pack/days) may have levels up
to 9% [3]. CO have an influence on oxidization in the
atmosphere by interaction with hydroxyl radicals (OH),
halocarbons, troposphere ozone and methane, but it is
not considered as a direct greenhouse gas because it
does not absorb terrestrial thermal IR, it accountable
for 75% of hydroxyl radicals (OH) sinks [4].
The CO emissions calculated by the global
distribution for the PEM-Tropics B campaign
(March-April 1999) shows that the CO emissions from
biomass burning in Asia are approximately four times
higher than CO from fossil fuel sources over all Asia

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
94
(mainly from India and continental Southeast Asia) and
account for 40% of global CO emissions [5].
Fires considered one of the largest anthropogenic
influences on terrestrial ecosystems after agricultural
activities and urban, and its indeed critical elements in
the earth system, vegetation, linking climate, and land
use [6]. In the Southeast Asia many of the social,
economic and environmental impacts causes by forest
and land fires. Tropical haze from peat fires has serious
negative impacts on the human health and regional
economy, and peat land fires affect global carbon
dynamics [7].
Immense plumes of the gas emitted from forest and
grassland burning in Indonesia forest fires 2005 were
badly affected and caused serious air pollution in
Malaysia, northern Sumatra and Singapore. NOAA
recorded 5420 hotspots from satellite images over the
area of fire between mid-July and mid-August [8].
Observed an elevation in the CO measurements higher
than the normal rates from ILP, Perai, P. Pinang station
during the period from mid-June to mid- August 2005.
The first measurement of atmosphere pollution was
from satellite (MAPS) instrument onboard the space
Shuttle with subsequent MAPS flights in 1984 and
1994 [9]. Launched onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite on
4 May 2002, Aqua’s cross-track scanning Advanced
Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) with AIRS
cross-track scanning grating spectrometer companion,
provide vertical profiles of the atmosphere with a nadir
45 km field-of-regard (FOR) across a 1650 km swath
[10].
AIRS broad spectral coverage (3.7 to 16 µm with
2378 channels) includes spectral features of CH4, CO,
O3, and CO2. The objectives of AIRS are (1) to
determine the factors that control the global energy and
water cycles, (2) investigate of atmosphere-surface
interactions, (3) improve numerical weather prediction,
(4) assess climate variations and feedbacks, and (5)
detect the effects of increased carbon dioxide, methane,
ozone and other greenhouse gases. The term “sounder”
in the instrument's name refers to the fact that water
vapor and temperature are measured as functions of
height [11].
This study is based on CO retrievals from a research
version of the current AIRS operational physical
algorithm, used Standard Level-2 (AIRX2RET) Daily
and Level-3 Daily Product (AIRX3STD), Version 5
data, to study daily distribution map of carbon
monoxide over peninsular Malaysia. Results from the
analysis of the retrieved CO total column amount as
well as effective CO volume mixing ratio (ratio of
number of CO molecules to the number of molecules of
air in a unit volume), from Level-3 Daily (ascending)
are compared, between the two different periods (day
time) (14 August 2005 & 13 August 2007) to evaluate
the effect of Indonesia forest fire August 2005 on entire
atmosphere CO column distribution over peninsular
Malaysia. The study was extended by comparing
retrieved CO volume mixing ratio (9 layers) with
pressure from Level-2, for same timing of various, to
evaluate CO distribution in the troposphere and
stratosphere, the land use map of the peninsular
Malaysia was conducted, map was processed and
analyzed by using Photoshop CS and SigmaPlot 11.0
software . The CO maps were generated using Kriging
interpolation technique. This interpolation technique
produced high correlation coefficient, R2 and low root
mean square error, RMS for CO total column amount
and CO volume mixing ratio.
2. Study Area
The study area is peninsular Malaysia, which is
located within latitudes 1º.18’ N to 6º.42’ N and
longitudes 100º.06’ E to 104º.18′ E. An area (Fig. 1),
covering 3.575×105 km2, with a center at Pahang
(102˚ E and 4˚ N) was selected for this study .The
extent of the domain was chosen so that it was
sufficiently large to contain CO plumes. The central
dimensions of the study domain are 550 km E-W and
650 km N-S. Data acquired By AIRS on 14 August
2005 and 13 August 2007 was selected to study the CO
distribution. The data included CO measurements from

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
95
Fig. 1 The study area.
AIRS. They were extracted for the study area and were
processed to match in space and time. The Carbone
monoxide data were derived from Atmospheric
Infrared Sounder (AIRS). Version 5 Leve-3 data are
available at http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/
AIRS_DP/, as well as auxiliary data including the
corresponding location and time along the satellite
track in a Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) format on
daily basis. Using the location information, CO data
were gridded monthly at geospatial resolution of 1˚×1˚
(lat × long).
3. Acquisition and Specification
The AIRS spectrometer is devised to operate in
synchronism with the two microwave instruments,
Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) and Advanced
Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A1, AMSU-A2).
AIRS infrared spectrometer acquires 2378 spectral
samples at resolutions, λ⁄∆λ, ranging from 1086 to
1570, in three bands: 3.74 μm to 4.61 μm, 6.20 μm to
8.22 μm, and 8.8 μm to 15.4 μm. Using the AIRS
1600-km cross-track swath and cloud-clearing retrieval
capabilities, retrieved daily global CO maps cover
approximately 70% of the earth, Chahine [10]. Results
from the analysis of the retrieved CO total column
amount as well as effective CO volume mixing ratio
used in this work. The V5 Level-3 gridded products are
derived from the Level-2 standard swath products, 36
channels at 500mb, Vertical Coverage 1000 - 1 mb, (7 -
9) layers, are used in the Version 5.0 for the retrieval
of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) abundance, in
the 4.58-4.50 μm (2180-2220 cm-¹) region from AIRS
measured radiances of the IR spectrum.
AIRS retrieval algorithm utilizes a large number of
channels throughout its operating range to first retrieve
surface temperature, tropospheric temperature, water
vapor profiles and emissivity before retrieving CO and
other trace gases because radiances in the CO spectral
region are affected by temperature, and to a lesser
extent water vapor [8].
One of the IR stages of combined IR/MW retrieval
product is the AIRS standard carbon monoxide. The
retrieved volume mixing ratio (CO_VMR_eff) for a
layer defined by the faces of a CO trapezoidal retrieval
function is computed from the integrated CO column
density for the trapezoidal layer (ratio of number of CO
molecules to the number of molecules of air in a unit
volume). The limits of the faces of these layers are
described in CO_trapezoid_layers in which is an array
of 1-based pressSup level indices. There are 9 such
layers in V5 corresponding to the 9 trapezoidal
retrieval functions employed for CO. By summing the
100 column density values to compute the quantity of
(CO_total_column), which is the integrate column
amount of CO from the surface to the top of the
atmosphere (TOA = 0.005 mb).
There are three AIRS Level-3 data products
separately derived from Microwave-Only (MW-Only)
retrievals and combined Infrared/Microwave (IR/MW)

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
96
Table 1 Level-3 & Level-2 data sets products.
Data set Short name Granule size
L2 cloud – cleared
radiances AIRI2CF 10 MB
L2 standard product AIRX2RET 5.4 MB
Level-2
L2 support product AIRX2SUP 20 MB
L3 standard daily
product AIRx3STD ~70 MB
L3 8 – day standard
product AIRx3ST8 ~103 MB
Level-3
L3 monthly standard
product AIRx3STM ~105 MB
retrievals as summarized in Table 1 which also
shows set data products by Level-2.
4. Data Analysis and Results
Air pollution reached extremely hazardous levels and
and forced schools and an airport to close when
immense plumes of the gas were emitted from forest
fires in Indonesia. There caused serious air pollution in
Malaysia, northern Sumatra and Singapore, skies over
peninsular Malaysia were noticeably hazier than
normal on mid-August 2005 [11]. We examine of the
Kriging interpolation technique to study the impact of
one smoke transport event on carbon monoxide levels
over peninsular Malaysia. Links between forest fires
and pollution observations downwind are well
established. To better assess the impact of the
transported smoke filled air mass on the local air
quality in peninsular Malaysia, we examined the data
from AIRS for two different periods (day time) (14
August 2005 & 13 August 2007) the retrieved total
column CO (molecules/cm²) (CO_total_column_A)
ascending as well as (CO_VMR_eff_A) effective CO
volume mixing ratio for 7 trapezoid layers ascending,
Level-3 daily (calendar), 1°×1° spatial resolution, to
investigate the daily distribution map of satellite
observed from AIRS and Indonesia forest fire affect on
atmospheric carbon monoxide distribution over
peninsular Malaysia. By using Photoshop CS &
SigmaPlot 11.0 software, map was generated for
CO VMR 14 August 2005 CO VMR 13 August 2007 Diff. VMR 14 August 2005&13 August 2007
CO total 14 August 2005 CO total 13 August 2007 Diff. CO total 14 August 2005 13&August 2007
Fig. 2 The CO VMR (top) [14]August 2005 (left), 13 August 2007 (middle), and differences (14 August 2005 – 13 August 2007)
(right), respectively. Similarly, the retrieved total columns CO (bottom).

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
97
(CO_total_column_A) & (CO_VMR_eff_A) over
peninsular Malaysia.
Fig. 2 illustrate the extent of AIRS daily coverage on
the top, the peninsular Malaysia for CO VMR for 14
August 2005 (left), 13 August 2007 (middle), and the
differences (14 August 2005 - 13 August 2007, right),
respectively. Similarly, the retrieved total columns CO
are shown in Fig. 2 bottom. The combination of rich
local sources of CO in peninsular Malaysia along with
the transport of additional CO, and carbone monoxide
from forest fires in Indonesia led to the pollution event
of August 2005, was characterized by elevated CO
values by 50-65% in northern, 25-35% in central
(Kuala Lumpur & its periphery) and 10-20% in
southern regions of peninsular Malaysia. On 13 August
2007 map where normal circumstances in the absence
of any event, large CO total column abundances in the
Industrial and congested urban zones, was over
Selangor (1.9523e+18 molecules/cm²) at latitude 3.5˚
and generally low CO abundances in the North over
Perak (1.6742e+18 molecules/cm² ) at latitude 5.5˚. In
contrast, the 14 August 2005, can be distinctly
identified the Indonesia forest fire influences on CO
total column abundances, observed lowest in the
pristine marine environment of Malacca, increase over
the inland areas, and are highest in the continental
environments at north over Perlis (2.8845e+
molecules/cm²) at latitude 6˚.
The 14 August 2005 - 13 August 2007 total column
CO differences are larger in a range of ~2 - 8.5e+17
molecules/cm² over peninsular Malaysia when the total
column CO amount are very low (1.72e+18
molecules/cm² ) for 13 August 2007. However, CO in
14 August 2005 was higher than in 13 August 2007
over most of areas especially on the northern region
{red colors (1e+18 molecules/cm²) at latitude 5.5º}
when the total column CO amount is relatively high.
The local CO VMR on 13 August 2007, maximum at
Selangor {at latitude 3.5˚ (0.6239 ppm) light blue
pixels}, were CO extensive sources emissions, and
much less over Perlis {at latitude 6˚ (0.5646 ppm)
violet pixels}. Looking carefully at 14 August 2005,
two much localized areas stand out their backgrounds:
Perak (5N, 101.30E) and Kedah (6N, 100.50E),
elevated CO VMR values appear in the northern
regions {at latitude 6o (0.74913 ppm) red color} and
low values in the south {at latitude 2˚ (0.5625 ppm)
violet color}. The northern regions experienced
extensive amount of pollutions from the intense
Indonesia forest fires. The differences are large in the
range of ~0.08 - 0.18 ppm over peninsular Malaysia
when the CO VMR amount are very low (0.56461 ppm)
for 13 August 2007, somewhat less distinct in the south,
while plainly evident in the north and central regions.
For brevity, from Fig. 2, on 13 August 2007 where
normal circumstances in absence of any event the local
CO maximum over Industrial and congested urban
zones (it is the most abundant pollutant in urban
atmosphere and very stable, having an average lifetime
of 2-4 months), usually in the center of peninsular
Malaysia at latitude 3˚. Much less of CO over the
pristine marine environment in the northeast coasts
regions at the latitude 5˚. This was due to lack of
sources CO as well as active monsoon in those areas
which remove polluting gases continuously (CO
slightly lighter than air). The map of 14 August 2005,
distinctly identified the influences of Indonesia forest
fires on CO VMR and CO total column values, the
maximum peak occurs precisely in the regions that
experienced wildfires, at northern areas of peninsular
Malaysia. In addition, higher CO concentrations were
still found over Industrial and congested urban zones.
With nine trapezoidal retrieval functions, the V5
AIRS CO retrieval algorithm produces 9 layers with
each corresponding to the CO_VMR_eff for the
respective trapezoid. Fig. 3 presents two sets of
retrieved volume mixing ratio VMR, one for a
relatively clean atmosphere over peninsular Malaysia
[a, (13 August 2007)], and one with a polluted
boundary layer containing industrial and biomass
burning emissions [b, (14 August 2005)]. For the clean
case, note how most of the VMR layers have similar

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
98
(a) 13 August 2007 (b) 14 August 2005
Fig. 3 The effective CO volume mixing ratio with pressure (a) 13 August 2007 and (b) 14 August 2005.
shapes and peak near 500 millibar (mb). For the
polluted case, note how the VMR layers for the two
lowest trapezoids peak between 600 and 850 mb and at
the surface are as significant as any other VMR layers.
The comparisons between [a] and [b] shows there is
apparent of biases with [b] higher than [a], and somewhat
less distinct in Stratosphere and top of Troposphere.
Below 500 mb atmosphere’s mass are lies, many
weather systems tend to follow the wind flow at this
level, this level is often considered to denote the
steering guide level of these systems. At 500 mb,
differences are range (5-10%) the highest over northern
regions, while the layers (600, 700, 850, 900 mb) the
differences are range (8-20%) but the highest over
central regions at latitude 3˚ and 4˚. Near the surface,
there are clear discrepancy and different between the
values of CO from north to south in 2005, while less
difference in 2007.
Observed elevated CO values appear over Penang
higher than the normal rates from ILP, Perai, P. Pinang
station during the period from mid-June to mid- August
2005. The average for August was 0.602 ppm and
0.928 ppm for 14 August 2005, with the relative
decline for the month of August 2007, for August
(0.358 ppm) and (0.228 ppm) for 13 August 2007. The
above results show the significant influences of
Indonesia forest fire on CO values for August 2005,
whereas, the value on 13 August recorded by surface
monitors across the Penang area was the highest of any
August day during the 1996-2007 periods.
5. Conclusions
As demonstrated here, AIRS’ daily views of
atmosphere CO across the study area enable detailed
analyses of both the spatial and temporal variations in
emissions and the visualization of subsequent transport.
The Kriging interpolation technique accurately and
precisely mapped CO concentration from AIRS data
over peninsular Malaysia. Level-3 and Level-2 daily
CO retrieval standard from AIRS data were used to
evaluate the daily CO distributions. The generated map
distinctly identified the highest values of CO occurred
when biomass burning during Indonesia forest fires on
August 2005, the local CO maximum in a region
experienced extensive the intense fires, while for
normal circumstances over populous cities and
industrial zones. Also characterized elevated CO
values by (8-20%) in mid-troposphere at pressure (600,

Daily Carbon Monoxide (CO) Abundance from AIRS over Peninsular Malaysia
99
700, 850 and 900 mb); the highest was over central
regions at latitude 3˚ and 4˚.
Satellite measurements are able to measure the
increase of atmospheric CO values over different
regions and CO maps will lead to a more understanding
of the CO budget. Further study will be extended to
include assess the observation and measurement of the
satellite (AIRS) to the effects of other pollutant &
greenhouses gases.
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