Lidar observations and characterization of biomass burning aerosols over Sofia: Long-range transport of forest wildfire smoke

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahary Y. Peshev ◽  
Tanja N. Dreischuh ◽  
Eleonora N. Toncheva ◽  
Dimitar V. Stoyanov
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Wildfire Smoke ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Lidar Observations

scholarly journals Molecular characterization of free tropospheric aerosol collected at the Pico Mountain Observatory: a case study with a long-range transported biomass burning plume

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 5047-5068 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Dzepina ◽  
C. Mazzoleni ◽  
P. Fialho ◽  
S. China ◽  
B. Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Molecular Characterization ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Elemental Carbon ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Tropospheric Aerosol ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Free tropospheric aerosol was sampled at the Pico Mountain Observatory located at 2225 m above mean sea level on Pico Island of the Azores archipelago in the North Atlantic. The observatory is located ~ 3900 km east and downwind of North America, which enables studies of free tropospheric air transported over long distances. Aerosol samples collected on filters from June to October 2012 were analyzed to characterize organic carbon, elemental carbon, and inorganic ions. The average ambient concentration of aerosol was 0.9 ± 0.7 μg m−3. On average, organic aerosol components represent the largest mass fraction of the total measured aerosol (60 ± 51%), followed by sulfate (23 ± 28%), nitrate (13 ± 10%), chloride (2 ± 3%), and elemental carbon (2 ± 2%). Water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) extracted from two aerosol samples (9/24 and 9/25) collected consecutively during a pollution event were analyzed using ultrahigh-resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Approximately 4000 molecular formulas were assigned to each of the mass spectra in the range of m/z 100–1000. The majority of the assigned molecular formulas had unsaturated structures with CHO and CHNO elemental compositions. FLEXPART retroplume analyses showed the sampled air masses were very aged (average plume age > 12 days). These aged aerosol WSOM compounds had an average O/C ratio of ~ 0.45, which is relatively low compared to O/C ratios of other aged aerosol. The increase in aerosol loading during the measurement period of 9/24 was linked to biomass burning emissions from North America by FLEXPART retroplume analysis and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire counts. This was confirmed with biomass burning markers detected in the WSOM and with the morphology and mixing state of particles as determined by scanning electron microscopy. The presence of markers characteristic of aqueous-phase reactions of phenolic species suggests that the aerosol collected at the Pico Mountain Observatory had undergone cloud processing before reaching the site. Finally, the air masses of 9/25 were more aged and influenced by marine emissions, as indicated by the presence of organosulfates and other species characteristic of marine aerosol. The change in the air masses for the two samples was corroborated by the changes in ethane, propane, and ozone, morphology of particles, as well as by the FLEXPART retroplume simulations. This paper presents the first detailed molecular characterization of free tropospheric aged aerosol intercepted at a lower free troposphere remote location and provides evidence of low oxygenation after long-range transport. We hypothesize this is a result of the selective removal of highly aged and polar species during long-range transport, because the aerosol underwent a combination of atmospheric processes during transport facilitating aqueous-phase removal (e.g., clouds processing) and fragmentation (e.g., photolysis) of components.

Impact of field biomass burning on local pollution and long-range transport of PM2.5 in Northeast Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 244 ◽  
pp. 414-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsushige Uranishi ◽  
Fumikazu Ikemori ◽  
Hikari Shimadera ◽  
Akira Kondo ◽  
Seiji Sugata
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Range Transport

scholarly journals Tropospheric CO vertical profiles measured by IAGOS aircraft in 2002–2017 and the role of biomass burning

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Hervé Petetin ◽  
Bastien Sauvage ◽  
Mark Parrington ◽  
Hannah Clark ◽  
Alain Fontaine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
South India ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Range Transport

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> This study investigates the role of biomass burning and long-range transport in the anomalies of carbon monoxide (CO) regularly observed along the tropospheric vertical profiles measured in the framework of IAGOS. Considering the high interannual variability of biomass burning emissions and the episodic nature of pollution long-range transport, one strength of this study is the amount of data taken into account, namely 30,000 vertical profiles at 9 clusters of airports in Europe, North America, Asia, India and southern Africa over the period 2002&amp;ndash;2017. </p> <p> As a preliminary, a brief overview of the spatio-temporal variability, latitudinal distribution, interannual variability and trends of biomass burning CO emissions from 14 regions is provided. The distribution of CO mixing ratios at different levels of the troposphere is also provided based on the entire IAGOS database (125 million CO observations). </p> <p> This study focuses on the free troposphere (altitudes above 2<span class="thinspace"></span>km) where the long-range transport of pollution is favoured. Anomalies at a given airport cluster are here defined as departures from the local seasonally-averaged climatological vertical profile. The intensity of these anomalies varies significantly depending on the airport, with maximum (minimum) CO anomalies of 110&amp;ndash;150 (48)<span class="thinspace"></span>ppbv in Asia (Europe). Looking at the seasonal variation of the frequency of occurrence, the 25<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest CO anomalies appears reasonably well distributed along the year, in contrast to the 5<span class="thinspace"></span>% or 1<span class="thinspace"></span>% strongest anomalies that exhibit a strong seasonality with for instance more frequent anomalies during summertime in northern United-States, during winter/spring in Japan, during spring in South-east China, during the non-monsoon seasons in south-east Asia and south India, and during summer/fall at Windhoek, Namibia. Depending on the location, these strong anomalies are observed in different parts of the free troposphere. </p> <p> In order to investigate the role of biomass burning emissions in these anomalies, we used the SOFT-IO v1.0 IAGOS added-value products that consist of FLEXPART 20-days backward simulations along all IAGOS aircraft trajectories, coupled with anthropogenic (MACCity) and biomass burning (GFAS) CO emission inventories and vertical injections. SOFT-IO estimates the contribution (in ppbv) of the recent (less than 20 days) primary worldwide CO emissions, tagged per source region. Biomass burning emissions are found to play an important role in the strongest CO anomalies observed at most airport clusters. The regional tags indicate a large contribution from boreal regions at airport clusters in Europe and North America during summer season. In both Japan and south India, the anthropogenic emissions dominate all along the year, except for the strongest summertime anomalies observed in Japan that are due to Siberian fires. The strongest CO anomalies at airport clusters located in south-east Asia are induced by fires burning during spring in south-east Asia and during fall in equatorial Asia. In southern Africa, the Windhoek airport was mainly impacted by fires in southern hemisphere Africa and South America. </p> <p> To our knowledge, no other studies have used such a large dataset of in situ vertical profiles for deriving a climatology of the impact of biomass burning versus anthropogenic emissions on the strongest CO anomalies observed in the troposphere, in combination with information on the source regions. This study therefore provides both qualitative and quantitative information for interpreting the highly variable CO vertical distribution in several regions of interest.</p>

scholarly journals Insights into the aging of biomass burning aerosol from satellite observations and 3D atmospheric modeling: evolution of the aerosol optical properties in Siberian wildfire plumes

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-392
Author(s):  
Igor B. Konovalov ◽  
Nikolai A. Golovushkin ◽  
Matthias Beekmann ◽  
Meinrat O. Andreae
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
Smoke Plumes ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Aging

Abstract. Long-range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosol from regions affected by wildfires is known to have a significant impact on the radiative balance and air quality in receptor regions. However, the changes that occur in the optical properties of BB aerosol during long-range transport events are insufficiently understood, limiting the adequacy of representations of the aerosol processes in chemistry transport and climate models. Here we introduce a framework to infer and interpret changes in the optical properties of BB aerosol from satellite observations of multiple BB plumes. Our framework includes (1) a procedure for analysis of available satellite retrievals of the absorption and extinction aerosol optical depths (AAOD and AOD) and single-scattering albedo (SSA) as a function of the BB aerosol photochemical age and (2) a representation of the AAOD and AOD evolution with a chemistry transport model (CTM) involving a simplified volatility basis set (VBS) scheme with a few adjustable parameters. We apply this framework to analyze a large-scale outflow of BB smoke plumes from Siberia toward Europe that occurred in July 2016. We use AAOD and SSA data derived from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite measurements in the near-UV range along with 550 nm AOD and carbon monoxide (CO) columns retrieved from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) satellite observations, respectively, to infer changes in the optical properties of Siberian BB aerosol due to its atmospheric aging and to get insights into the processes underlying these changes. Using the satellite data in combination with simulated data from the CHIMERE CTM, we evaluate the enhancement ratios (EnRs) that allow isolating AAOD and AOD changes due to oxidation and gas–particle partitioning processes from those due to other processes, including transport, deposition, and wet scavenging. The behavior of EnRs for AAOD and AOD is then characterized using nonlinear trend analysis. It is found that the EnR for AOD strongly increases (by about a factor of 2) during the first 20–30 h of the analyzed evolution period, whereas the EnR for AAOD does not exhibit a statistically significant increase during this period. The increase in AOD is accompanied by a statistically significant enhancement of SSA. Further BB aerosol aging (up to several days) is associated with a strong decrease in EnRs for both AAOD and AOD. Our VBS simulations constrained by the observations are found to be more consistent with satellite observations of strongly aged BB plumes than “tracer” simulations in which atmospheric transformations of BB organic aerosol were disregarded. The simulation results indicate that the upward trends in EnR for AOD and in SSA are mainly due to atmospheric processing of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), leading to an increase in the mass scattering efficiency of BB aerosol. Evaporation and chemical fragmentation of the SOA species, part of which is assumed to be absorptive (to contain brown carbon), are identified as likely reasons for the subsequent decrease in the EnR for both AAOD and AOD. Hence, our analysis reveals that the long-range transport of smoke plumes from Siberian fires is associated with major changes in BB aerosol optical properties and chemical composition. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using available satellite observations for evaluating and improving representations in atmospheric models of the BB aerosol aging processes in different regions of the world at much larger temporal scales than those typically addressed in aerosol chamber experiments.

scholarly journals Long-range Transport of Aerosols from Biomass Burning over Southeastern South America and their Implications on Air Quality

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1734-1745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Droprinchinski Martins ◽  
Ricardo Hallak ◽  
Rafaela Cruz Alves ◽  
Daniela S. de Almeida ◽  
Rafaela Squizzato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
South America ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport

scholarly journals Long range transport and mixing of aerosol sources during the 2013 North American biomass burning episode: analysis of multiple lidar observations in the Western Mediterranean basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (22) ◽  
pp. 32323-32365 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ancellet ◽  
J. Pelon ◽  
J. Totems ◽  
P. Chazette ◽  
A. Bazureau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
North American ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Aerosol Sources ◽  
Aerosol Source

Abstract. Long range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosols between North America and the Mediterranean region took place in June 2013. A large number of ground based and airborne lidar measurements were deployed in the Western Mediterranean during the Chemistry-AeRosol Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx) intensive observation period. A detailed analysis of the potential North American aerosol sources is conducted including the assessment of their transport to Europe using forward simulations of the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model initialized using satellite observations by MODIS and CALIOP. The three dimensional structure of the aerosol distribution in the ChArMEx domain observed by the ground-based lidars (Menorca, Barcelona and Lampedusa), a Falcon-20 aircraft flight and three CALIOP tracks, agree very well with the model simulation of the three major sources considered in this work: Canadian and Colorado fires, a dust storm from Western US and the contribution of Saharan dust streamers advected from the North Atlantic trade wind region into the Westerlies region. Four aerosol types were identified using the optical properties of the observed aerosol layers (aerosol depolarization ratio, lidar ratio) and the transport model analysis of the contribution of each aerosol source: (I) pure BB layer, (II) weakly dusty BB, (III) significant mixture of BB and dust transported from the trade wind region (IV) the outflow of Saharan dust by the subtropical jet and not mixed with BB aerosol. The contribution of the Canadian fires is the major aerosol source during this episode while mixing of dust and BB is only significant at altitude above 5 km. The mixing corresponds to a 20–30 % dust contribution in the total aerosol backscatter. The comparison with the MODIS AOD horizontal distribution during this episode over the Western Mediterranean sea shows that the Canadian fires contribution were as large as the direct northward dust outflow from Sahara.

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