Smoke Chemistry

Abstract

Smoke chemistry (i.e., chemical transformations taking place within smoke plumes) can alter the composition and toxicity of smoke on time scales from minutes to days. Air quality agencies need better information on and better models of smoke chemistry to more accurately characterize the contributions of smoke to ambient ozone and particulate matter, and to better predict good windows for prescribed burning. The ability of these agencies to quantify the contributions of wildland fires to air pollutants and the ability of forest and burn managers to both predict and mitigate these impacts are limited by how current models represent smoke chemistry. This limitation is interconnected with uncertainties in smoke emissions, plume dynamics, and long-range transport. Improving predictive models will require a combination of laboratory, field, and modeling studies focused on enhancing our knowledge of smoke chemistry, including when smoke interacts with anthropogenic emissions and enters indoors.