Airborne measurements of western U.S. wildfire emissions: Comparison with prescribed burning and air quality implications
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Wildfires emit significant amounts of pollutants that degrade air quality. Plumes from three wildfires in the western U.S. were measured from aircraft during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) and the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP), both in summer 2013. This study reports an extensive set of emission factors (EFs) for over 80 gases and 5 components of submicron particulate matter (PM1) from these temperate wildfires. These include rarely, or never before, measured oxygenated volatile organic compounds and multifunctional organic nitrates. The observed EFs are compared with previous measurements of temperate wildfires, boreal forest fires, and temperate prescribed fires. The wildfires emitted high amounts of PM1(with organic aerosol (OA) dominating the mass) with an average EF that is more than 2 times the EFs for prescribed fires. The measured EFs were used to estimate the annual wildfire emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, total nonmethane organic compounds, and PM1from 11 western U.S. states. The estimated gas emissions are generally comparable with the 2011 National Emissions Inventory (NEI). However, our PM1emission estimate (1530 ± 570 Gg yr−1) is over 3 times that of the NEI PM2.5estimate and is also higher than the PM2.5emitted from all other sources in these states in the NEI. This study indicates that the source of OA from biomass burning in the western states is significantly underestimated. In addition, our results indicate that prescribed burning may be an effective method to reduce fine particle emissions.
DOI: 10.1002/2016jd026315
Authors: Xiaoxi Liu, L. Gregory Huey, Robert J. Yokelson, Vanessa Selimovic, Isobel J. Simpson, Markus Müller, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano‐Jost, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Donald R. Blake, Zachary Butterfield, Yonghoon Choi, John D. Crounse, Douglas A. Day, Glenn S. Diskin, Manvendra K. Dubey, Edward Fortner, Thomas F. Hanisco, Weiwei Hu, Laura E. King, Lawrence Kleinman, Simone Meinardi, Tomas Mikoviny, Timothy B. Onasch, Brett B. Palm, Jeff Peischl, Ilana B. Pollack, Thomas B. Ryerson, Glen W. Sachse, Arthur J. Sedlacek, John E. Shilling, Stephen Springston, Jason M. St. Clair, David J. Tanner, Alexander P. Teng, Paul O. Wennberg, Armin Wisthaler, Glenn M. Wolfe
Institutions: Georgia Institute of Technology, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado System, University of Montana, University of California, Irvine, Universität Innsbruck, Langley Research Center, California State University, San Bernardino, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Michigan, Science Systems and Applications (United States), California Institute of Technology, Aerodyne Research, Goddard Space Flight Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Oslo, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Colorado State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,070
Awards: WE PROPOSE TO DEPLOY TWO CHEMICAL IONIZATION MASS SPECTROMETRY (CIMS) INSTRUMENTS ON NASA'S DC-8 RESEARCH AIRPLANE IN SUPPORT OF THE SEAC4RS AND DC3, G241279073, ORGANIC AEROSOL (OA) IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR BY MASS TO THE GLOBAL SUBMICRON AEROSOL BURDEN. HOWEVER, DESPITE BEING UBIQUITOUS THROUGHOUT THE TROPOSPH, WE PROPOSE TO MEASURE BROMINE OXIDE (BRO), PEROXY ACETYL NITRATE (PAN), SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO2), AND OTHER TRACE ATMOSPHERIC GASES FROM THE NASA DC-8 AI, G473261599, MOTIVATION THE ROLE OF ALKENE CHEMISTRY IN REDUCING AIR QUALITY IN RURAL AND URBAN SETTINGS WAS FIRST IDENTIFIED MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO. UNCERTAINTY, G7029399874, WE PROPOSE MULTI-PLATFORM OBSERVATIONS OF REACTIVE NITROGEN SPECIES (PANS, ORGANIC NITRATES, AND HO2NO2), SO2, AND HALOGEN SPECIES (HCL, CLNO2, AND C, G8029556458, G8394374186, WE PROPOSE TO MEASURE THE SIZE-RESOLVED COMPOSITION OF NON-REFRACTORY AEROSOLS ON THE NASA DC-8 AIRCRAFT DURING THE SEAC4RS CAMPAIGN (AND OPTIONALLY, G869838342
OpenAlex ID: W2624980422