Air quality and health impact of 2019–20 Black Summer megafires and COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia

Ryan, Robert G.; Silver, Jeremy D.; Schofield, Robyn

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116498

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…(5) The birch leaf has been considered as a three-layer plate; (6) The first and the third layers of this plate have been described as dry organic matter; (7) The second layer was a mixture of dry organic matter and water; (8) Moisture evaporation is described by the kinetic approach; (9) Water vapor instantaneously move to the area above the leaf; (10) Soot particle volume fraction is proportional to the volume fraction of dry organic matter decomposed during pyrolysis with coefficient of dispersion α s . (11) Temperature distribution is described by the unsteady heat conduction equation; (12) Modeling has been carried out as part of a one-dimensional formulation to satisfy requirements of memory and software performance for practical purposes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mathematical Simulation of Forest Fuel Pyrolysis in One-Dimensional Statement Taking into Account Soot Formation

Baranovskiy

Kirienko

2021

Processes

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Pyrolysis (thermal decomposition) is considered as the most important stage of a forest fire before direct forest fuel ignition. This process is accompanied by soot particle formation. Such particles have a negative impact on public health in the vicinity of forest fires. The purpose of this article was to investigate the heat and mass transfer process occurring in a typical forest fuel element (birch leaf). The pyrolysis and soot formation processes were taken into account, and various forest fire scenarios were considered. Computational experiments were carried out using the high-level programming language Delphi. Heat and mass transfer processes were described by nonlinear non-stationary differential heat conduction equations with corresponding initial and boundary conditions. The differential equations were solved by the finite difference method. Nonlinearity was resolved using a simple iteration. The main results of the research were (1) physical and mathematical models proposed for modeling forest fuel pyrolysis, taking into account soot formation and conditions corresponding to various forest fires; (2) a computer program coded in the high-level programming language Delphi; (3) the obtained temperature distributions over leaf thickness; (4) volume fractions obtained for various components dependent on time and space coordinates. The qualitative analysis of the dependencies showed that the temperature distributions in the birch leaf structure are similar for all forest fire types and differ only in absolute value. The intensity of the soot formation process directly depends on the forest fire type. The presented results should be useful in predicting and assessing forest fire danger, including near the facilities of the Russian Railways.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of atmospheric transport, such particles can end up in the air [5] that people breathe. There can be different scenarios for human exposure to polluted air [6,7]. However, wherever people are, smoke or soot particles have an effect that can result in cardiorespiratory diseases [8] and mortality [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mathematical Simulation of Forest Fuel Pyrolysis in One-Dimensional Statement Taking into Account Soot Formation

Baranovskiy

Kirienko

2021

Processes

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“…During COVID-19 restrictions in Australia, the levels of ozone and particulate matter <2.5 µm are effectively unchanged in the state of Victoria but increase by 20% and 24%, respectively, in the state of New South Wales, suggesting the stronger reduction of community mobility in Victoria than in New South Wales [20]. New SARS-CoV-2 cases and mortality rate increase in the provinces of Lombardi, Italy, and neighboring regions in case of distance from Lodi below 92 and 140 km, respectively, as these relationships are amplified by ozone pollution [21].…”

Section: Peculiarities Of Ozone As An Air Pollutantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ozone Features in the Context of Advancing Covid-19 Pandemic

Yaneva¹,

Ivanov²,

Ivanova³

2021

JofIMAB

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Coronavirus disease 2019 represents a serious challenge for modern society worldwide because of the considerable and unfavourable consequences of the pandemic in terms of human health, economics and social life. In the present survey, some essential peculiarities of ozone as an air pollutant and powerful oxidant under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic as reflected in the recent literature are described. The understanding of ozone chemistry during COVID-19 lockdown can improve ozone parameterization in models of chemical transport. Ozone peroxides such as ozonides, aldehydes, hydrogen peroxides, and organic peroxide serve as messengers to modulate the human immune system and improve blood rheology.

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“…The most recent example of such extreme natural disturbance would be the 2019-2020 Black Summer megafires in Australia [11]. In contrast to prescribed fires, the biomass burning events release a significant amount of particular matter into the air [12]. Uncontrolled forest fires can be recurrent and cause a significant loss of aboveground biomass stocks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating a Baseline Map of Surface Fuel Loading Using Stratified Random Sampling Inventory Data through Cokriging and Multiple Linear Regression Methods

Lin

Huang

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Surface fuel loading is a key factor in controlling wildfires and planning sustainable forest management. Spatially explicit maps of surface fuel loading can highlight the risks of a forest fire. Geospatial information is critical in enabling careful use of deliberate fire setting and also helps to minimize the possibility of heat conduction over forest lands. In contrast to lidar sensing and/or optical sensing based methods, an approach of integrating in-situ fuel inventory data, geospatial interpolation techniques, and multiple linear regression methods provides an alternative approach to surface fuel load estimation and mapping over mountainous forests. Using a stratified random sampling based inventory and cokriging analysis, surface fuel loading data of 120 plots distributed over four kinds of fuel types were collected in order to develop a total surface fuel loading model (lntSFL-BioTopo model) and a fine surface fuel model (lnfSFL-BioTopo model) for generating tSFL and fSFL maps. Results showed that the combination of topographic parameters such as slope, aspect, and their cross products and the fuel types such as pine stand, non-pine conifer stand, broadleaf stand, and conifer–broadleaf mixed stand was able to appropriately describe the changes in surface fuel loads over a forest with diverse terrain morphology. Based on a cross-validation method, the estimation of tSFL and fSFL of the study site had an RMSE of 3.476 tons/ha and 3.384 tons/ha, respectively. In contrast to the average loading of all inventory plots, the estimation for tSFL and fSFL had a relative error of 38% (PRMSE). The reciprocal of estimation bias of both SFL-BioTopo models tended to be an exponential growth function of the amount of surface fuel load, indicating that the estimation accuracy of the proposed method is likely to be improved with further study. In the regression modeling, a natural logarithm transformation of the surface fuel loading prevented the outcome of negative estimates and thus improved the estimation. Based on the results, this paper defined a minimum sampling unit (MSU) as the area for collecting surface fuels for interpolation using a cokriging model. Allocating the MSUs at the boundary and center of a plot improved surface fuel load prediction and mapping.

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Air quality and health impact of 2019–20 Black Summer megafires and COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia

Cited by 40 publications

References 30 publications

Mathematical Simulation of Forest Fuel Pyrolysis in One-Dimensional Statement Taking into Account Soot Formation

Mathematical Simulation of Forest Fuel Pyrolysis in One-Dimensional Statement Taking into Account Soot Formation

Ozone Features in the Context of Advancing Covid-19 Pandemic

Generating a Baseline Map of Surface Fuel Loading Using Stratified Random Sampling Inventory Data through Cokriging and Multiple Linear Regression Methods

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