LAUSR

ABSTRACT The Tianjin harbour explosion has become the most serious man-made disaster in China in the last 20 years. Chemical materials and dust were cast into the air after explosion. In this research, Geostationary Ocean Colour Imager (GOCI) was used for detecting the transportation of pollution that was composed of brown carbon, nitrogen oxides, dust, etc. It is considered to be an efficient and effective approach to monitor infectant using GOCI-Rayleigh corrected reflectance Rrc (865 nm)/Rrc (412 nm). Images of pollutant index Rrc (865 nm)/Rrc (412 nm) and forward trajectories show that pollutant index exceeded 20 in the morning and then dropped to 1 at 07:28 (UTC) on 13 August 2015. Combined with the prediction model of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forward trajectory, this research shows that the diffusion of infectant, originated at the northern part of the Bohai Sea water near Tangshan and Qinhuangdao, eventually spread to the south of the Bohai Sea (Yellow River Estuary). The vertical distribution of the pollutant was identified in the air, 1000–2000 m above sea level, and pollutant migrated to the south, which finally dissipated at the south of Bohai Bay. Since GOCI aerosol optical thickness of infectant is less than 1, and Rrc (865 nm)/Rrc (412 nm) pollutant index of infectant is more than 1, the type of explosive pollutant is preliminarily distinguished by the characteristic of spectrum and GOCI-Rrc image. The main pollutants were carbonaceous aerosol (caused by combustion explosion, main brown carbon), nitrogen oxides (which were adsorbed and adhered to particulate matter), dust, and other substances. This research provides an effective method to detect explosive pollution by GOCI in the future.