Abstract. In mid-August through mid-September of 2017 a major wildfire smoke and hazeepisode strongly impacted most of the NW US and SW Canada. During this periodour ground-based site in Missoula, Montana, experienced heavy smoke impactsfor ∼ 500 h (up to 471 µg m−3 hourly averagePM2.5). We measured wildfire trace gases, PM2.5 (particulate matter≤2.5 µm in diameter), and black carbon and submicron aerosolscattering and absorption at 870 and 401 nm. This may be the most extensivereal-time data for these wildfire smoke properties to date. Our range oftrace gas ratios for ΔNH3∕ΔCO and ΔC2H4∕ΔCO confirmed that the smoke from mixed, multiple sourcesvaried in age from ∼ 2–3 h to ∼ 1–2 days. Our study-averageΔCH4∕ΔCO ratio (0.166±0.088) indicated a largecontribution to the regional burden from inefficient smoldering combustion.Our ΔBC∕ΔCO ratio (0.0012±0.0005) for our groundsite was moderately lower than observed in aircraft studies (∼ 0.0015)to date, also consistent with a relatively larger contribution fromsmoldering combustion. Our ΔBC∕ΔPM2.5 ratio (0.0095±0.0003) was consistent with the overwhelmingly non-BC (black carbon),mostly organic nature of the smoke observed in airborne studies of wildfiresmoke to date. Smoldering combustion is usually associated with enhanced PMemissions, but our ΔPM2.5∕ΔCO ratio (0.126±0.002)was about half the ΔPM1.0∕ΔCO measured in freshwildfire smoke from aircraft (∼ 0.266). Assuming PM2.5 isdominated by PM1, this suggests that aerosol evaporation, at least nearthe surface, can often reduce PM loading and its atmospheric/air-qualityimpacts on the timescale of several days. Much of the smoke was emitted latein the day, suggesting that nighttime processing would be important in theearly evolution of smoke. The diurnal trends show brown carbon (BrC),PM2.5, and CO peaking in the early morning and BC peaking in the earlyevening. Over the course of 1 month, the average single scattering albedo forindividual smoke peaks at 870 nm increased from ∼ 0.9 to ∼ 0.96.Bscat401∕Bscat870 was used as a proxy for the size and“photochemical age” of the smoke particles, with this interpretation beingsupported by the simultaneously observed ratios of reactive trace gases toCO. The size and age proxy implied that the Ångström absorptionexponent decreased significantly after about 10 h of daytime smoke aging,consistent with the only airborne measurement of the BrC lifetime in anisolated plume. However, our results clearly show that non-BC absorption canbe important in “typical” regional haze and moderately aged smoke, with BrCostensibly accounting for about half the absorption at 401 nm on average forour entire data set.
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Rapid evolution of aerosol particles and their optical properties downwind of wildfires in the western US
Abstract. During the first phase of the Biomass Burn Operational Project (BBOP) fieldcampaign, conducted in the Pacific Northwest, the DOE G-1 aircraft was usedto follow the time evolution of wildfire smoke from near the point ofemission to locations 2–3.5 h downwind. In nine flights we maderepeated transects of wildfire plumes at varying downwind distances andcould thereby follow the plume's time evolution. On average there was littlechange in dilution-normalized aerosol mass concentration as a function ofdownwind distance. This consistency hides a dynamic system in which primaryaerosol particles are evaporating and secondary ones condensing. Organicaerosol is oxidized as a result. On all transects more than 90 % ofaerosol is organic. In freshly emitted smoke aerosol, NH4+ isapproximately equivalent to NO3. After 2 h of daytime aging, NH4+ increased and is approximately equivalent tothe sum of Cl, SO42, and NO3. Particle size increased with downwind distance,causing particles to be more efficient scatters. Averaged over nine flights,mass scattering efficiency (MSE) increased in ∼ 2 h by 56 % and doubled in one flight. Mechanisms for redistributing mass from small to large particles are discussed. Coagulation is effective at movingaerosol from the Aitken to accumulation modes but yields only a minor increase in MSE. As absorption remained nearly constant with age, the timeevolution of single scatter albedo was controlled by age-dependentscattering. Near-fire aerosol had a single scatter albedo (SSA) of 0.8–0.9. After 1 to 2 h of aging SSAs were typically 0.9 and greater. Assuming global-average surface and atmospheric conditions, the observedage dependence in SSA would change the direct radiative effect of a wildfire plume from near zero near the fire to a cooling effect downwind.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10211174
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 21
- ISSN:
- 1680-7324
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 13319 to 13341
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We analyze new aerosol products from NASA satellite retrievals over the western USA during August 2013, with special attention to locally generated wildfire smoke and downwind plume structures. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm from MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Terra and Aqua Collections 6 and 6.1) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Deep Blue (DB) and MODIS (Terra and Aqua) Multi‐Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) retrievals are evaluated against ground‐based AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) observations. We find a significant improvement in correlation with AERONET and other metrics in the latest DB AOD (MODIS C6.1
r 2 = 0.75, VIIRSr 2 = 0.79) compared to MODIS C6 (r 2 = 0.62). In general, MAIAC (r 2 = 0.84) and DB (MODIS C6.1 and VIIRS) present similar statistical evaluation metrics for the western USA and are useful tools to characterize aerosol loading associated with wildfire smoke. We also evaluate three novel NASA MODIS plume injection height (PIH) products, one from MAIAC and two from the Aerosol Single scattering albedo and layer Height Estimation (ASHE) (MODIS and VIIRS) algorithm. Both Terra and Aqua MAIAC PIHs statistically agree with ground‐based and satellite lidar observations near the fire source, as do ASHE, although the latter is sensitive to assumptions about aerosol absorption properties. We introduce a first‐order approximation Smoke Height Boundary Layer Ratio (SHBLR) to qualitatively distinguish between aerosol pollution within the planetary boundary layer and the free troposphere. We summarize the scope, limitations, and suggestions for scientific applications of surface level aerosol concentrations specific to wildfire emissions and smoke plumes using these novel NASA MODIS and VIIRS aerosol products. -
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Abstract The western U.S. wildfire smoke plumes observed by the upward-pointing Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL) during the Biomass Burning Fluxes of Trace Gases and Aerosols (BB-FLUX) project are investigated in a two-part paper. Part II here presents the reconstructed vertical structures of seven plumes from airborne WCL measurements. The vertical structures evident in the fire plume cross sections, supported by in situ measurements, showed that the fire plumes had distinct macrophysical and microphysical properties, which are closely related to the plume transport, fire emission intensity, and thermodynamic structure in the boundary layer. All plumes had an injection layer between 2.8 and 4.0 km above mean sea level, which is generally below the identified boundary layer top height. Plumes that transported upward out of the boundary layer, such as the Rabbit Foot and Pole Creek fires, formed a higher plume at around 5.5 km. The largest and highest Pole Creek fire plume was transported farthest and was sampled by University of Wyoming King Air aircraft at 170 km, or 2.3 h, downwind. It was associated with the warmest, driest, deepest boundary layer and the highest wind speed and turbulence. The Watson Creek fire plume intensified in the afternoon with stronger CO emission and larger smoke plume height than in the morning, indicating a fire diurnal cycle, but some fire plumes did not intensify in the afternoon. There were pockets of relatively large irregular aerosol particles at the tops of plumes from active fires. In less-active fire plumes, the WCL depolarization ratio and passive cavity aerosol spectrometer probe mass mean diameter maximized at a height that was low in the plume.
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Wildfires are an important atmospheric source of primary organic aerosol (POA) and precursors for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) at regional and global scales. However, there are large uncertainties surrounding the emissions and physicochemical processes that control the transformation, evolution, and properties of POA and SOA in large wildfire plumes. We develop a plume version of a kinetic model to simulate the dilution, oxidation chemistry, thermodynamic properties, and microphysics of organic aerosol (OA) in wildfire smoke. The model is applied to study the in-plume OA in four large wildfire smoke plumes intercepted during an aircraft-based field campaign in summer 2018 in the western United States. Based on estimates of dilution and oxidant concentrations before the aircraft first intercepted the plumes, we simulate the OA evolution from very close to the fire to several hours downwind. Our model results and sensitivity simulations suggest that dilution-driven evaporation of POA and simultaneous photochemical production of SOA are likely to explain the observed evolution in OA mass with physical age. The model, however, substantially underestimates the change in the oxygen-to-carbon ratio of the OA compared to measurements. In addition, we show that the rapid chemical transformation within the first hour after emission is driven by higher-than-ambient OH concentrations (3×10 6 -10 7 molecules cm -3 ) and the slower evolution over the next several hours is a result of lower-than-ambient OH concentrations (<10 6 molecules cm -3 ) and depleted SOA precursors. Model predictions indicate that the OA measured several hours downwind of the fire is still dominated by POA but with an SOA fraction that varies between 30% and 56% of the total OA. Semivolatile, heterocyclic, and oxygenated aromatic compounds, in that order, were found to contribute substantially (>90%) to SOA formation. Future work needs to focus on better understanding the dynamic evolution closer to the fire and resolving the rapid change in the oxidation state of OA with physical age.more » « less
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Abstract. Extensive airborne measurements of non-methane organic gases (NMOGs), methane, nitrogen oxides, reduced nitrogen species, and aerosol emissions from US wild and prescribed fires were conducted during the 2019 NOAA/NASA Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality campaign (FIREX-AQ). Here, we report the atmospheric enhancement ratios (ERs) and inferred emission factors (EFs) for compounds measured on board the NASA DC-8 research aircraft for nine wildfires and one prescribed fire, which encompass a range of vegetation types. We use photochemical proxies to identify young smoke and reduce the effects of chemical degradation on our emissions calculations. ERs and EFs calculated from FIREX-AQ observations agree within a factor of 2, with values reported from previous laboratory and field studies for more than 80 % of the carbon- and nitrogen-containing species. Wildfire emissions are parameterized based on correlations of the sum of NMOGs with reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) to modified combustion efficiency (MCE) as well as other chemical signatures indicative of flaming/smoldering combustion, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and black carbon aerosol. The sum of primary NMOG EFs correlates to MCE with an R2 of 0.68 and a slope of −296 ± 51 g kg−1, consistent with previous studies. The sum of the NMOG mixing ratios correlates well with CO with an R2 of 0.98 and a slope of 137 ± 4 ppbv of NMOGs per parts per million by volume (ppmv) of CO, demonstrating that primary NMOG emissions can be estimated from CO. Individual nitrogen-containing species correlate better with NO2, NOy, and black carbon than with CO. More than half of the NOy in fresh plumes is NO2 with an R2 of 0.95 and a ratio of NO2 to NOy of 0.55 ± 0.05 ppbv ppbv−1, highlighting that fast photochemistry had already occurred in the sampled fire plumes. The ratio of NOy to the sum of NMOGs follows trends observed in laboratory experiments and increases exponentially with MCE, due to increased emission of key nitrogen species and reduced emission of NMOGs at higher MCE during flaming combustion. These parameterizations will provide more accurate boundary conditions for modeling and satellite studies of fire plume chemistry and evolution to predict the downwind formation of secondary pollutants, including ozone and secondary organic aerosol.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13319-2020
