A system for monitoring NO2 emissions from biomass burning by using GOME and ATSR-2 data

In this paper we propose a system for monitoring abnormal NO₂ emissions in the troposphere by using remote-sensing sensors. In particular, the system aims at estimating the amount of NO₂ resulting from biomass burning by exploiting the synergies between the GOME and the ATSR-2 sensors mounted on board of the ERS-2 satellite. Two different approaches to the estimation of NO₂ are proposed. The former, which is the simpler one, assumes a linear relationship between the GOME and ATSR-2 measurements and the NO₂ concentration. The latter exploits a nonlinear and nonparametric method based on a radial basis function (RBF) neural network. The architecture of such a network is defined in order to retrieve the values of NO₂ concentration on the basis of the GOME and ATSR-2 measurements, as well as of other ancillary input parameters. Experimental results, obtained on a real data set, confirm the effectiveness of the proposed system, which represents a promising tool for operational applications.