Identification

Title

Impact of the 2016 Southeastern US wildfires on the vertical distribution of ozone and aerosol at Huntsville, Alabama

Abstract

We present an integrated analysis of measurements from ozonesonde, ozone (O-3) Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL), ceilometer, surface monitors, and space-borne observations in conjunction with the regional chemical transport model Weather Research and Forecast Model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to investigate the effect of biomass burning emissions on the vertical distribution of ozone and aerosols during an episode of the 2016 Southeastern United States wildfires. The ceilometer and DIAL measurements capture the vertical extent of the smoke plumes affecting the surface and upper air over Huntsville, AL. The model evaluation results suggest a scaling factor of 3-4 for the wildfire aerosol emissions in order to better match observed aerosol optical depth, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and DIAL aerosol extinction. We use the scaled emissions together with WRF-Chem tendency diagnostics to quantify the fire impacts and characterize the processes affecting the vertical ozone budget downstream of the wildfires. During the daytime at Huntsville on November 12 and 13, we estimate that fire emissions contribute 12-32 mu g/m(3) (44%-70%) to hourly surface PM2.5 and 7-8 ppb/10 h (30%-37%) to the surface ozone increase (Delta O-3), respectively. Net chemical ozone production (PO3) is the main contributor to upper-air ozone, which reaches 17-19 ppb/10 h with an estimated 14%-25% contribution from fire sources. Vertical mixing and advection are the major drivers of changes in surface ozone. Model analysis indicates that advection dominates Delta O-3 due to fire emissions below 1 km on November 12, while local photochemistry dominates on November 13. These results quantify the different mechanisms through which fires can influence the vertical ozone budget and point out uncertainties in fire inventories that need to be addressed in light of the increasing role of wildfires on air quality.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7gf0xx7

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2021-05-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact