Effects of Biomass Burning Emissions on Air Quality Over the Continental USA: A Three-Year Comprehensive Evaluation Accounting for Sensitivities Due to Boundary Conditions and Plume Rise Height

This paper reviewed six kinds of indoor air quality (IAQ) evaluation methods, by which the same IAQ status were evaluated. Besides, the relations and distinctions of six methods were also analyzed. The results indicate that the evaluation results of different methods on the same sample are not identical. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, pollution loss rate method and comprehensive index method are relatively accurate, and improved grey relational analysis method has the largest error.

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Colorado air quality impacted by long-range-transported aerosol: a set of case studies during the 2015 Pacific Northwest fires

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-16-12329-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (18) ◽

pp. 12329-12345 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jessie M. Creamean ◽

Paul J. Neiman ◽

Timothy Coleman ◽

Christoph J. Senff ◽

Guillaume Kirgis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Case Studies ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Long Range ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Surface Radiation ◽

Cloud Formation ◽

Synoptic Scale ◽

Transport Pathways

Abstract. Biomass burning plumes containing aerosols from forest fires can be transported long distances, which can ultimately impact climate and air quality in regions far from the source. Interestingly, these fires can inject aerosols other than smoke into the atmosphere, which very few studies have evidenced. Here, we demonstrate a set of case studies of long-range transport of mineral dust aerosols in addition to smoke from numerous fires (including predominantly forest fires and a few grass/shrub fires) in the Pacific Northwest to Colorado, US. These aerosols were detected in Boulder, Colorado, along the Front Range using beta-ray attenuation and energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and corroborated with satellite-borne lidar observations of smoke and dust. Further, we examined the transport pathways of these aerosols using air mass trajectory analysis and regional- and synoptic-scale meteorological dynamics. Three separate events with poor air quality and increased mass concentrations of metals from biomass burning (S and K) and minerals (Al, Si, Ca, Fe, and Ti) occurred due to the introduction of smoke and dust from regional- and synoptic-scale winds. Cleaner time periods with good air quality and lesser concentrations of biomass burning and mineral metals between the haze events were due to the advection of smoke and dust away from the region. Dust and smoke present in biomass burning haze can have diverse impacts on visibility, health, cloud formation, and surface radiation. Thus, it is important to understand how aerosol populations can be influenced by long-range-transported aerosols, particularly those emitted from large source contributors such as wildfires.

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

Aerosol and Air Quality Research ◽

10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0545 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 1734-1745 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

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

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Emission Inventory Processing of Biomass Burning from A Global Dataset for Air Quality Modeling

10.20944/preprints202008.0335.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ernesto Pino-Cortés ◽

Samuel Carrasco ◽

Luis A. Díaz-Robles ◽

Francisco Cubillos ◽

Fidel Vallejo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Emission Inventory ◽

Sparse Matrix ◽

Local Level ◽

Air Quality Modeling ◽

Simulation Software ◽

Atmospheric Pollutants ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Quality Modeling

Wildfires generate large amounts of atmospheric pollutants yearly. The development of an emissions inventory for this activity is a challenge today, mainly to perform modeling of air quality. There are free available databases with historical information about this source. The main goal of this study was to process the results of biomass burning emissions for the year 2014 from the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS). The pollutants studied were the black carbon, the organic carbon, fine and coarse particulate matter, respectively. The inputs were pre-formatted to enter to the simulation software of the emission inventory. In this case, the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) was used and the values obtained in various cities were analyzed. As a result, the spatial distribution of the forest fire emissions in the Southern Hemisphere was achieved, with the polar stereographic projection. The highest emissions were located in the African continent, followed by the northern region of Australia. Future air quality modeling at a local level could apply the results and the methodology of this study. The biomass burning emissions could add a better performance of the results and more knowledge on the effect of this source.

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Simulation of Air Quality Over South Korea Using the WRF-Chem Model: Impacts of Chemical Initial and Lateral Boundary Conditions

Atmosphere ◽

10.14191/atmos.2015.25.4.639 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 639-657 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jae-Hyeong Lee ◽

Lim-Seok Chang ◽

Sang-Hyun Lee

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

South Korea ◽

Boundary Conditions ◽

Lateral Boundary ◽

Lateral Boundary Conditions

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Vehicle Air Quality Analysis and Comprehensive Evaluation

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.507.786 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 507 ◽

pp. 786-789

Author(s):

Ruo Jun Wang ◽

Yan Ying Xu

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Pollution Control ◽

Quality Evaluation ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

Quality Analysis ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Short Term ◽

Comprehensive Evaluation Method

Vehicle air quality is attracted attention more and more with the increase of private vehicles popularization rate but the air quality evaluation is difficult to achieve standardization in the short term. The main pollutants affecting vehicle air quality were analyzed. Index factors were identified and the classification method of vehicle air quality evaluation were determined combining with China and international air quality standards. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was established for vehicle air quality evaluation. According to the degree of different pollutants harm to human body, weight of each index factor was determined. The evaluation results would provide theoretical basis for the comparison of different vehicle air quality conditions and vehicle air pollution control.

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Trace gases and organic aerosol at a rural site in Vietnam during large scale biomass burning

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-181 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Simone M. Pieber ◽

Dac-Loc Nguyen ◽

Hendryk Czech ◽

Stephan Henne ◽

Nicolas Bukowiecki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Chemical Composition ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Large Scale ◽

Trace Gases ◽

Organic Aerosol ◽

Trace Gas ◽

Rural Site ◽

Air Masses ◽

Mixing Ratios

Open biomass burning (BB) is a globally widespread phenomenon. The fires release pollutants, which are harmful for human and ecosystem health and alter the Earth's radiative balance. Yet, the impact of various types of BB on the global radiative forcing remains poorly constrained concerning greenhouse gas emissions, BB organic aerosol (OA) chemical composition and related light absorbing properties. Fire emissions composition is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., fuel and thereby vegetation-type, fuel moisture, fire temperature, available oxygen). Due to regional variations in these parameters, studies in different world regions are needed. Here we investigate the influence of seasonally recurring BB on trace gas concentration and air quality at the regional Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station Pha Din (PDI) in rural Northwestern Vietnam. PDI is located in a sparsely populated area on the top of a hill (1466 m a.s.l.) and is well suited to study the large-scale fires on the Indochinese Peninsula, whose pollution plumes are frequently transported towards the site [1]. We present continuous trace gas observations of CO2, CH4, CO, and O3 conducted at PDI since 2014 and interpret the data with atmospheric transport simulations. Annually recurrent large scale BB leads to hourly time-scale peaks CO mixing ratios at PDI of 1000 to 1500 ppb around every April since the start of data collection in 2014. We complement this analysis with carbonaceous PM2.5 chemical composition analyzed during an intensive campaign in March-April 2015. This includes measurements of elemental and organic carbon (EC/OC) and more than 50 organic markers, such as sugars, PAHs, fatty acids and nitro-aromatics [2]. For the intensive campaign, we linked CO, CO2, CH4 and O3 mixing ratios to a statistical classification of BB events, which is based on OA composition. We found increased CO and O3 levels during medium and high BB influence during the intensive campaign. A backward trajectory analysis confirmed different source regions for the identified periods based on the OA cluster. Typically, cleaner air masses arrived from northeast, i.e., mainland China and Yellow sea during the intensive campaign. The more polluted periods were characterized by trajectories from southwest, with more continental recirculation of the medium cluster, and more westerly advection for the high cluster. These findings highlight that BB activities in Northern Southeast Asia significantly enhances the regional OA loading, chemical PM2.5 composition and the trace gases in northwestern Vietnam. The presented analysis adds valuable data on air quality in a region of scarce data availability.&#160;REFERENCES[1] Bukowiecki, N. et al. Effect of Large-scale Biomass Burning on Aerosol Optical Properties at the GAW Regional Station Pha Din, Vietnam. AAQR. 19, 1172&#8211;1187 (2019).[2] Nguyen, D. L, et al. Carbonaceous aerosol composition in air masses influenced by large-scale biomass burning: a case-study in Northwestern Vietnam. ACPD., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1027, in review, 2020.

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NESTED HIGH-RESOLUTION NOx AND PM SIMULATIONS OVER ZÜRICH

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6202 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ivo Suter ◽

Lukas Emmenegger ◽

Dominik Brunner

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Boundary Conditions ◽

Meteorological Conditions ◽

Model Systems ◽

Multi Scale ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact ◽

The City ◽

Concentration Levels

Reducing air pollution, which is the world's largest single environmental health risk, demands better-informed air quality policies. Consequently, multi-scale air quality models are being developed with the goal to resolve cities. One of the major challenges in such model systems is to accurately represent all large- and regional-scale processes that may critically determine the background concentration levels over a given city. This is particularly true for longer-lived species such as aerosols, for which background levels often dominate the concentration levels, even within the city. Furthermore, the heterogeneous local emissions, and complex dispersion in the city have to be considered carefully.In this study, the impact of processes across a wide range of scales on background concentrations over Switzerland and the city of Zurich was modelled by performing one year of nested European and Swiss national COSMO-ART simulations to obtain adequate boundary conditions for gas-phase chemical, aerosol and meteorological conditions for city-resolving simulations. The regional climate chemistry model COSMO-ART (Vogel et al. 2009) was used in a 1-way coupled mode. The outer, European, domain, which was driven by chemical boundary conditions from the global MOZART model, had a 6.6 km horizontal resolution and the inner, Swiss, domain one of 2.2 km. For the city scale, a catalogue of more than 1000 mesoscale flow patterns with 100 m resolution was created with the model GRAMM, based on a discrete set of atmospheric stabilities, wind speeds and directions, accounting for the influence of land-use and topography. Finally, the flow around buildings was solved with the CFD model GRAL forced at the boundaries by GRAMM. Subsequently, Lagrangian dispersion simulations for a set of air pollutants and emission sectors (traffic, industry, ...) based on extremely detailed building and emission data was performed in GRAL. The result of this nested procedure is a library of 3-dimensional air pollution maps representative of hourly situations in Zurich (Berchet et al. 2017). From these pre-computed situations, time-series and concentration maps can be obtained by selecting situations according to observed or modelled meteorological conditions.The results were compared to measurements from air quality monitoring network stations. Modelled concentrations of NOx and PM compared well to measurements across multiple locations, provided background conditions were considered carefully. The nested multi-scale modelling system COSMO-ART/GRAMM/GRAL can adequately reproduce local air quality and help understanding the relative contributions of local versus distant emissions, as well as fill the space between precise point measurements from monitoring sites. This information is useful for research, policy-making, and epidemiological studies particularly under the assumption that exceedingly high concentrations become more and more localised phenomenon in the future.

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