The contribution of duff consumption to fire emissions and air pollution of the Rough Ridge Fire

It is typically difficult to burn duff because of high fuel moisture; however, under persistent drought conditions, duff will burn readily. This study investigates the burning of a deep duff layer by the 2016 Rough Ridge Fire, in the southern United States, under drought conditions and evaluates the contribution of duff consumption to fire emissions and air pollution. Fuel loading was measured and used to evaluate the BlueSky framework. Smoke was simulated for three fuel loading and moisture scenarios of field measurement, BlueSky estimated fuel loading, and a hypothetical moist condition. The measured fuels had a very deep duff layer that had accumulated over decades due to the lack of historical fires, most of which was burned by the fire. The burning of this deep duff layer contributed substantially to the increased fire emissions at the fire site and the air pollution in metro Atlanta. In contrast, BlueSky under-predicted duff loading and fire emissions. As a result, no major air pollution episodes were predicted for metro Atlanta. The high-moisture scenario also failed to produce a major air-pollution episode within Atlanta, which highlights the contribution of the drought to the air-pollution episode within Atlanta.

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Effects of Air Pollution Episodes on Pulmonary Function and Respiratory Symptoms

Toxicology and Industrial Health ◽

10.1177/074823379000600515 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 6 (5) ◽

pp. 189-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Gerard Hoek ◽

Bert Brunekreef ◽

Peter Hofschreuder ◽

Mieke Lumens

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Lung Function ◽

Pulmonary Function ◽

Primary School ◽

Respiratory Symptoms ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Continuous Exposure ◽

Pollution Episode ◽

Air Pollution Episodes ◽

Pollution Episodes

In January 1985, a decline of primary school children's pulmonary function was observed during an air pollution episode. Ambient 24 hour average levels of SO2, TSP and RSP were in the range of 200–250 μg/m3. The response persisted for at least two weeks. In January 1987, again a decline of school children's pulmonary function was observed associated with an air pollution episode. Levels of TSP were about as elevated as in the 1985 episode. Two weeks after the episode, lung function levels were even lower than during the episode. In June 1987 a long term study was started to investigate potential effects of winter and summer air pollution episodes on pulmonary function and occurrence of acute respiratory symptoms of primary school children. An important issue for this study is the characterization of short term variation of lung function in absence of air pollution. Exposure is characterized by ambient levels of several gases (SO2, NO2, O3, HNP3), PM10, TSP and components of particulate matter (SO2−4, NO-3, H+, NH+4). Sampling is being conducted on a daily basis to obtain a continuous exposure estimate. In the winter of 1987/1988, no air pollution episodes were observed. The study will continue through the winters of 1988/1989, and 1989/1990.

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Atmospheric impacts of the 2010 Russian wildfires: integrating modelling and measurements of an extreme air pollution episode in the Moscow region

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-11-10031-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 10031-10056 ◽

Cited By ~ 141

Author(s):

I. B. Konovalov ◽

M. Beekmann ◽

I. N. Kuznetsova ◽

A. Yurova ◽

A. M. Zvyagintsev

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Heat Wave ◽

European Russia ◽

Moscow Region ◽

Ozone Formation ◽

Satellite Measurements ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Ozone Concentrations ◽

Pollution Episode

Abstract. Numerous wildfires provoked by an unprecedented intensive heat wave caused continuous episodes of extreme air pollution in several Russian cities and densely populated regions, including the Moscow region. This paper analyzes the evolution of the surface concentrations of CO, PM10 and ozone over the Moscow region during the 2010 heat wave by integrating available ground based and satellite measurements with results of a mesoscale model. The CHIMERE chemistry transport model is used and modified to include the wildfire emissions of primary pollutants and the shielding effect of smoke aerosols on photolysis. The wildfire emissions are derived from satellite measurements of the fire radiative power and are optimized by assimilating data of ground measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM10) into the model. It is demonstrated that the optimized simulations reproduce independent observations, which were withheld during the optimisation procedure, quite adequately (specifically, the correlation coefficient of daily time series of CO and PM10 exceeds 0.8) and that inclusion of the fire emissions into the model significantly improves its performance. The model results show that wildfires are the principal factor causing the observed air pollution episode associated with the extremely high levels of daily mean CO and PM10 concentrations (up to 10 mg m−3 and 700 μg m−3 in the averages over available monitoring sites, respectively), although accumulation of anthropogenic pollution was also favoured by a stagnant meteorological situation. Indeed, ozone concentrations were simulated to be episodically very large (>400 μg m−3) even when fire emissions were omitted in the model. It was found that fire emissions increased ozone production by providing precursors for ozone formation (mainly VOC), but also inhibited the photochemistry by absorbing and scattering solar radiation. In contrast, diagnostic model runs indicate that ozone concentrations could reach very high values even without fire emissions which provide "fuel" for ozone formation, but, at the same time, inhibit it as a result of absorption and scattering of solar radiation by smoke aerosols. A comparison of MOPITT CO measurements and corresponding simulations indicates that the observed episodes of extreme air pollution in Moscow were only a part of a very strong perturbation of the atmospheric composition, caused by wildfires, over European Russia. It is estimated that 2010 fires in this region emitted ~10 Tg CO, thus more than 85% of the total annual anthropogenic CO emissions. About 30% of total CO fire emissions in European Russia are identified as emissions from peat fires.

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