Exploring the Use of NEXRAD Radar Data for Real-Time Fire Plume Height Estimation

Plume height plays a vital role in wildfire smoke dispersion and its subsequent effects on environmental health. Satellite data (e.g., MISR, CALIOP) has been widely used to estimate fire plume height; however, the temporal and spatial resolutions of these measurements are quite limited. Previous studies have found that NEXRAD (radar) data can be used to estimate fire plume height. In this study, we explore the possibility of establishing a real-time plume height dataset using NEXRAD data. Specifically, plume heights from high-resolution 3-D NEXRAD WSR-88D reflectivity data (≥ 5 dBZ) are calculated and the radar-estimates are evaluated based on CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) recorded mean injection heights and plume top heights for each fire point in August 2020 over the CONUS region. Observed precipitation data is used to mitigate the factor of cloud cover. We find that plume heights estimated using radar data are comparable to satellite model plume heights. Additionally, we explore the performance of radar-estimated plume heights across different regions, fire types, land uses, and fire intensities. The study indicates that radar-estimated plume heights and model-simulated plume heights show higher correlations in the Southwestern US, for Evergreen Needleleaf Forest land uses, and stronger fire cases. These correlations exceed the average up to 12%, 20%, and 32%, respectively. These results demonstrate that NEXRAD data can be used to obtain real-time plume heights in higher resolutions, particularly if data is filtered for key geographic variables, thereby improving wildfire air quality simulations.