Long-range transport of Siberian wildfire smoke to British Columbia: Lidar observations and air quality impacts

Cottle, P.; Strawbridge, K. B.; McKendry, Ian G.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.03.005

Cited by 51 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Vancouver Sunset (Ca-VSu) is an urban observational tower above a residential detached urban neighborhood. Details of the instrumentation can be found in Crawford and Christen (2014). Vancouver UBC is a climate station on the campus of the University of British Columbia that features a full set of radiation measurements.…”

Section: Radiative and Turbulent Flux Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of an intense wildfire smoke episode on surface radiation, energy and carbon fluxes in southwestern British Columbia, Canada

et al. 2019

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Abstract. A short, but severe, wildfire smoke episode in July 2015, with an aerosol optical depth (AOD) approaching 9, is shown to strongly impact radiation budgets across four distinct land-use types (forest, field, urban and wetland). At three of the sites, impacts on the energy balance are also apparent, while the event also appears to elicit an ecosystem response with respect to carbon fluxes at the wetland and a forested site. Greatest impacts on radiation and energy budgets were observed at the forested site where the role of canopy architecture and the complex physiological responses to an increase in diffuse radiation were most important. At the forest site, the arrival of smoke reduced both sensible and latent heat flux substantially but also lowered sensible heat flux more than the latent heat flux. With widespread standing water, and little physiological control on evapotranspiration, the impacts on the partitioning of turbulent fluxes were modest at the wetland compared to the physiologically dominated fluxes at the forested site. Despite the short duration and singular nature of the event, there was some evidence of a diffuse radiation fertilization effect when AOD was near or below 2. With lighter smoke, both the wetland and forested site appeared to show enhanced photosynthetic activity (a greater sink for carbon dioxide). However, with dense smoke, the forested site was a strong carbon source. Given the extensive forest cover in the Pacific Northwest and the growing importance of forest fires in the region, these results suggest that wildfire aerosol during the growing season potentially plays an important role in the regional ecosystem response to smoke and ultimately the carbon budget of the region.

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Section: Radiative and Turbulent Flux Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of an intense wildfire smoke episode on surface radiation, energy and carbon fluxes in southwestern British Columbia, Canada

et al. 2019

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“…Geographical/sampling information for biomass burning AERONET land sites, along with some references for burning in these regions. Cottle et al (2014) microphysical model based on column-average aerosol properties, when applied to real satellite data, could potentially be misleading or inaccurate (Kim et al, 2009). A similar rationale applies to sites in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayas (e.g.…”

Section: Site Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AERONET-based models of smoke-dominated aerosol near source regions and transported over oceans, and implications for satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Smoke aerosols from biomass burning are an important component of the global aerosol system. Analysis of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) retrievals of aerosol microphysical/optical parameters at 10 sites reveals variety between biomass burning aerosols in different global source regions, in terms of aerosol particle size and single scatter albedo (SSA). Case studies of smoke observed at coastal/island AERONET sites also mostly lie within the range of variability at the near-source sites. Differences between sites tend to be larger than variability at an individual site, although optical properties for some sites in different regions can be quite similar. Across the sites, typical midvisible SSA ranges from ∼ 0.95-0.97 (sites dominated by boreal forest or peat burning, typically with larger fine-mode particle radius and spread) to ∼ 0.88-0.9 (sites most influenced by grass, shrub, or crop burning, typically smaller finemode particle radius and spread). The tropical forest site Alta Floresta (Brazil) is closer to this second category, although with intermediate SSA ∼ 0.92. The strongest absorption is seen in southern African savannah at Mongu (Zambia), with average midvisible SSA ∼ 0.85. Sites with stronger absorption also tend to have stronger spectral gradients in SSA, becoming more absorbing at longer wavelengths. Microphysical/optical models are presented in detail so as to facilitate their use in radiative transfer calculations, including extension to UV (ultraviolet) wavelengths, and lidar ratios. One intended application is to serve as candidate optical models for use in satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval algorithms. The models presently adopted by these algorithms over ocean often have insufficient absorption (i.e. too high SSA) to represent these biomass burning aerosols. The underestimates in satellite-retrieved AOD in smoke outflow regions, which have important consequences for applications of these satellite data sets, are consistent with the level of underestimated absorption.

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“…Their findings suggest that the high PM 2.5 observed by the region's fixed air quality monitoring network was associated with periods of noted entrainment signatures in lidar measurements. This study expands on the Cottle et al (2014) work in a number of significant ways: it analyzes potential air quality impacts over a much greater geographical area encompassing large part of British Columbia and Washington State; it uses detailed air quality measurements at a high elevation background site to provide insight into plume chemistry; and it makes use of photochemical modelling to establish baseline air quality conditions in the absence of any wildfire emissions to better quantify the impacts of the plume on O 3 and PM 2.5 levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…A detailed analysis by Cottle et al (2014) using HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory)…”

Section: Trajectory and Dispersion Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…than double the biomass burning emission for the entire 2010 season and second only to the 72 Tg from the 2003 season (NASA, 2012). Cottle et al (2014) examined the impact of this event in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) in British Columbia, Canada using lidar measurements taken at the University of British Columbia. Their findings suggest that the high PM 2.5 observed by the region's fixed air quality monitoring network was associated with periods of noted entrainment signatures in lidar measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of the July 2012 Siberian Fire Plume on Air Quality in the Pacific Northwest

Teakles¹,

So²,

Ainslie³

et al. 2016

Preprint

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Abstract. Biomass burning emissions emit a significant amount of trace gases and aerosols and can affect atmospheric chemistry and radiative forcing for hundreds or thousands of kilometers downwind. They can also contribute to exceedances of air quality standards and have negative impacts on human health. We present a case study of an intense wildfire plume from Siberia that affected the air quality across the Pacific Northwest on July 6&#8211;10, 2012. Using satellite measurements (MODIS True Colour RGB imagery and MODIS AOD), trajectories, and dispersion modelling, we track the wildfire smoke plume from its origin in Siberia to the Pacific Northwest where subsidence ahead of a subtropical Pacific High made the plume settle over the region. The normalized enhancement ratio of O3 and PM1 relative to CO of 0.26 and 0.09 are consistent with a plume aged 6&#8211;10&#8201;days. The aerosol mass in the plume was mainly submicron in diameter (PM1/PM2.5 = 0.97) and the part of the plume sampled at the peak of Whistler Mountain was 87&#8201;% organic material. Stable atmospheric conditions along the coast limited the initial entrainment of the plume and caused local anthropogenic emissions to buildup. A synthesis of air quality from the regional surface monitoring networks describes changes in ambient O3 and PM2.5 during the event and contrasts them to baseline air quality estimates from the AURAMS chemical transport model without wildfire emissions. Overall, the smoke plume contributed significantly to the exceedances in O3 and PMM2.5 air quality standards and objectives that occurred at several communities in the region during the event. Peak enhancements in 8-hr O3 of 34&#8211;44&#8201;ppbv and 24-hr PM2.5 of 14&#8211;32&#8201;&#956;g/m3 were attributed to the effects of the smoke plume across the Interior of British Columbia and at the Whistler Peak high elevation site (2182&#8201;m ASL). Lesser enhancements of 10&#8211;12&#8201;ppbv for 8-hr O3 and of 4&#8211;9&#8201;&#956;g/m3 for 24-hr PM2.5 occurred at Whistler Peak and across coastal British Columbia and Washington State. The findings suggest that the large air quality impacts seen during this event were a combination of the efficient transport of the plume across the Pacific, favorable entrainment conditions across the BC interior and the large scale of the Siberian wildfire emissions. A warming climate increases the risk of increased wildfire activity and events of this scale re-occurring under appropriate meteorological conditions.

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Long-range transport of Siberian wildfire smoke to British Columbia: Lidar observations and air quality impacts

Cited by 51 publications

References 9 publications

Impacts of an intense wildfire smoke episode on surface radiation, energy and carbon fluxes in southwestern British Columbia, Canada

Impacts of an intense wildfire smoke episode on surface radiation, energy and carbon fluxes in southwestern British Columbia, Canada

AERONET-based models of smoke-dominated aerosol near source regions and transported over oceans, and implications for satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth

Impacts of the July 2012 Siberian Fire Plume on Air Quality in the Pacific Northwest

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