Trace gas emissions from biomass burning inferred from aerosol optical depth

We have observed strong correlations between simultaneous and co‐located measurements of aerosol optical depth and column amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde and ammonia in bushfire smoke plumes over SE Australia during the Austral summers of 2001/2002 and 2002/2003. We show how satellite‐derived aerosol optical depth maps may be used in conjunction with these correlations to determine the total amounts of these gases present in a fire‐affected region. This provides the basis of a method for estimating total emissions of trace gases from biomass burning episodes using visible radiances measured by satellites.