scholarly journals Aerosol optical properties and trace gas emissions by PAX and OP-FTIR for laboratory-simulated western US wildfires during FIREX

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 2929-2948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Selimovic ◽  
Robert J. Yokelson ◽  
Carsten Warneke ◽  
James M. Roberts ◽  
Joost de Gouw ◽  
...  

Abstract. Western wildfires have a major impact on air quality in the US. In the fall of 2016, 107 test fires were burned in the large-scale combustion facility at the US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory as part of the Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX). Canopy, litter, duff, dead wood, and other fuel components were burned in combinations that represented realistic fuel complexes for several important western US coniferous and chaparral ecosystems including ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, chamise, and manzanita. In addition, dung, Indonesian peat, and individual coniferous ecosystem fuel components were burned alone to investigate the effects of individual components (e.g., “duff”) and fuel chemistry on emissions. The smoke emissions were characterized by a large suite of state-of-the-art instruments. In this study we report emission factor (EF, grams of compound emitted per kilogram of fuel burned) measurements in fresh smoke of a diverse suite of critically important trace gases measured using open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR). We also report aerosol optical properties (absorption EF; single-scattering albedo, SSA; and Ångström absorption exponent, AAE) as well as black carbon (BC) EF measured by photoacoustic extinctiometers (PAXs) at 870 and 401 nm. The average trace gas emissions were similar across the coniferous ecosystems tested and most of the variability observed in emissions could be attributed to differences in the consumption of components such as duff and litter, rather than the dominant tree species. Chaparral fuels produced lower EFs than mixed coniferous fuels for most trace gases except for NOx and acetylene. A careful comparison with available field measurements of wildfires confirms that several methods can be used to extract data representative of real wildfires from the FIREX laboratory fire data. This is especially valuable for species rarely or not yet measured in the field. For instance, the OP-FTIR data alone show that ammonia (1.62 g kg−1), acetic acid (2.41 g kg−1), nitrous acid (HONO, 0.61 g kg−1), and other trace gases such as glycolaldehyde (0.90 g kg−1) and formic acid (0.36 g kg−1) are significant emissions that were poorly characterized or not characterized for US wildfires in previous work. The PAX measurements show that the ratio of brown carbon (BrC) absorption to BC absorption is strongly dependent on modified combustion efficiency (MCE) and that BrC absorption is most dominant for combustion of duff (AAE 7.13) and rotten wood (AAE 4.60): fuels that are consumed in greater amounts during wildfires than prescribed fires. Coupling our laboratory data with field data suggests that fresh wildfire smoke typically has an EF for BC near 0.2 g kg−1, an SSA of ∼ 0.91, and an AAE of ∼ 3.50, with the latter implying that about 86 % of the aerosol absorption at 401 nm is due to BrC.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Selimovic ◽  
Robert J. Yokelson ◽  
Carsten Warneke ◽  
James M. Roberts ◽  
Joost de Gouw ◽  
...  

Abstract. Western wildfires have a major impact on air quality in the US. In the fall of 2016, 107 test fires were burned in the large-scale combustion facility at the US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory as part of the Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX). Canopy, litter, duff, dead wood, and other fuel components were burned in combinations that represented realistic fuel complexes for several important western US coniferous and chaparral ecosystems including Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, Subalpine Fire, Chamise, and Manzanita In addition, dung, Indonesian peat, and individual coniferous ecosystem fuel components were burned stand-alone to investigate the effects of individual components (e.g. “duff”) and fuel chemistry on emissions. The smoke emissions were characterized by a large suite of state-of-the-art instruments. In this study we report emission factor (EF, g compound emitted per kg fuel burned) measurements in fresh smoke of a diverse suite of critically-important trace gases measured by open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR). We also report aerosol optical properties (absorption EF, single scattering albedo (SSA), and Ångström absorption exponent (AAE)) as well as black carbon (BC) EF measured by photoacoustic extinctiometers (PAX) at 870 and 401 nm. The average trace gas emissions were similar across the coniferous ecosystems tested and most of the variability observed in emissions could be attributed to differences in the consumption of components such as duff and litter, rather than the dominant tree species. Chaparral fuels produced lower EF than mixed coniferous fuels for most trace gases except for NOx and acetylene. A careful comparison with available field measurements of wildfires confirms that several methods can be used to extract data representative of real wildfires from the FIREX lab fire data. This is especially valuable for species not yet measured in the field. For instance, the OP-FTIR data alone show that ammonia (1.65 g kg−1), acetic acid (2.44 g kg−1), nitrous acid (HONO, 0.61 g kg−1) and other trace gases such as glycolaldehyde and formic acid are significant emissions not previously measured for US wildfires. The PAX measurements show that the ratio of brown carbon (BrC) absorption to BC absorption is strongly dependent on modified combustion efficiency (MCE) and that BrC absorption is most dominant for combustion of duff (AAE 7.13) and rotten wood (AAE 4.60): fuels that are consumed in greater amounts during wildfires than prescribed fires. Coupling our lab data with field data suggests that fresh wildfire smoke typically has an EF for BC near 0.1 g kg−1), an SSA of ~ 0.91 and an AAE of ~ 3.50, with the latter implying that about 86% of the aerosol absorption at 401 nm is due to BrC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 11711-11732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea E. Stockwell ◽  
Thilina Jayarathne ◽  
Mark A. Cochrane ◽  
Kevin C. Ryan ◽  
Erianto I. Putra ◽  
...  

Abstract. Peat fires in Southeast Asia have become a major annual source of trace gases and particles to the regional–global atmosphere. The assessment of their influence on atmospheric chemistry, climate, air quality, and health has been uncertain partly due to a lack of field measurements of the smoke characteristics. During the strong 2015 El Niño event we deployed a mobile smoke sampling team in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and made the first, or rare, field measurements of trace gases, aerosol optical properties, and aerosol mass emissions for authentic peat fires burning at various depths in different peat types. This paper reports the trace gas and aerosol measurements obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, whole air sampling, photoacoustic extinctiometers (405 and 870 nm), and a small subset of the data from analyses of particulate filters. The trace gas measurements provide emission factors (EFs; grams of a compound per kilogram biomass burned) for up to  ∼  90 gases, including CO2, CO, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons up to C10, 15 oxygenated organic compounds, NH3, HCN, NOx, OCS, HCl, etc. The modified combustion efficiency (MCE) of the smoke sources ranged from 0.693 to 0.835 with an average of 0.772 ± 0.053 (n  =  35), indicating essentially pure smoldering combustion, and the emissions were not initially strongly lofted. The major trace gas emissions by mass (EF as g kg−1) were carbon dioxide (1564 ± 77), carbon monoxide (291 ± 49), methane (9.51 ± 4.74), hydrogen cyanide (5.75 ± 1.60), acetic acid (3.89 ± 1.65), ammonia (2.86 ± 1.00), methanol (2.14 ± 1.22), ethane (1.52 ± 0.66), dihydrogen (1.22 ± 1.01), propylene (1.07 ± 0.53), propane (0.989 ± 0.644), ethylene (0.961 ± 0.528), benzene (0.954 ± 0.394), formaldehyde (0.867 ± 0.479), hydroxyacetone (0.860 ± 0.433), furan (0.772 ± 0.035), acetaldehyde (0.697 ± 0.460), and acetone (0.691 ± 0.356). These field data support significant revision of the EFs for CO2 (−8 %), CH4 (−55 %), NH3 (−86 %), CO (+39 %), and other gases compared with widely used recommendations for tropical peat fires based on a lab study of a single sample published in 2003. BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) are important air toxics and aerosol precursors and were emitted in total at 1.5 ± 0.6 g kg−1. Formaldehyde is probably the air toxic gas most likely to cause local exposures that exceed recommended levels. The field results from Kalimantan were in reasonable agreement with recent lab measurements of smoldering Kalimantan peat for “overlap species,” lending importance to the lab finding that burning peat produces large emissions of acetamide, acrolein, methylglyoxal, etc., which were not measurable in the field with the deployed equipment and implying value in continued similar efforts. The aerosol optical data measured include EFs for the scattering and absorption coefficients (EF Bscat and EF Babs, m2 kg−1 fuel burned) and the single scattering albedo (SSA) at 870 and 405 nm, as well as the absorption Ångström exponents (AAE). By coupling the absorption and co-located trace gas and filter data we estimated black carbon (BC) EFs (g kg−1) and the mass absorption coefficient (MAC, m2 g−1) for the bulk organic carbon (OC) due to brown carbon (BrC). Consistent with the minimal flaming, the emissions of BC were negligible (0.0055 ± 0.0016 g kg−1). Aerosol absorption at 405 nm was  ∼  52 times larger than at 870 nm and BrC contributed  ∼  96 % of the absorption at 405 nm. Average AAE was 4.97 ± 0.65 (range, 4.29–6.23). The average SSA at 405 nm (0.974 ± 0.016) was marginally lower than the average SSA at 870 nm (0.998 ± 0.001). These data facilitate modeling climate-relevant aerosol optical properties across much of the UV/visible spectrum and the high AAE and lower SSA at 405 nm demonstrate the dominance of absorption by the organic aerosol. Comparing the Babs at 405 nm to the simultaneously measured OC mass on filters suggests a low MAC ( ∼  0.1) for the bulk OC, as expected for the low BC/OC ratio in the aerosol. The importance of pyrolysis (at lower MCE), as opposed to glowing (at higher MCE), in producing BrC is seen in the increase of AAE with lower MCE (r2 =  0.65).


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea E. Stockwell ◽  
Thilina Jayarathne ◽  
Mark A. Cochrane ◽  
Kevin C. Ryan ◽  
Erianto I. Putra ◽  
...  

Abstract. Peat fires in Southeast Asia have become a major annual source of trace gases and particles to the regional-global atmosphere. The assessment of their influence on atmospheric chemistry, climate, air quality, and health has been uncertain partly due to a lack of field measurements of the smoke characteristics. During the strong 2015 El Niño event we deployed a mobile smoke sampling team in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and made the first, or rare, field measurements of trace gases, aerosol optical properties, and aerosol mass emissions for authentic peat fires burning at various depths in different peat types. This paper reports the trace gas and aerosol measurements obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, whole air sampling, photoacoustic extinctiometers (405 and 870 nm), and a small subset of the data from analyses of particulate filters. The trace gas measurements provide emission factors (EFs, g compound per kg biomass burned) for CO2, CO, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons up to C10, 15 oxygenated organic compounds, NH3, HCN, NOx, OCS, HCl, etc.; up to ~90 gases in all. The modified combustion efficiency (MCE) of the smoke sources ranged from 0.693 to 0.835 with an average of 0.772 ± 0.053 (n = 35) indicating essentially pure smoldering combustion and the emissions were not initially strongly lofted. The major trace gas emissions by mass (EF as g/kg) were: carbon dioxide (1564 ± 77), carbon monoxide (291 ± 49), methane (9.51 ± 4.74), hydrogen cyanide (5.75 ± 1.60), acetic acid (3.89 ± 1.65), ammonia (2.86 ± 1.00), methanol (2.14 ± 1.22), ethane (1.52 ± 0.66), dihydrogen (1.22 ± 1.01), propylene (1.07 ± 0.53), propane (0.989 ± 0.644), ethylene (0.961 ± 0.528), benzene (0.954 ± 0.394), formaldehyde (0.867 ± 0.479), hydroxyacetone (0.860 ± 0.433), furan (0.772 ± 0.035), acetaldehyde (0.697 ± 0.460), and acetone (0.691 ± 0.356). These field data support significant revision of the EFs for CO2 (−8 %), CH4 (−55 %), NH3 (−86 %), CO (+39 %) and other gases compared with widely-used recommendations for tropical peat fires based on a lab study of a single sample published in 2003. BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) are important air toxics and aerosol precursors and were emitted in total at 1.5 ± 0.6 g/kg. Formaldehyde is probably the air toxic gas most likely to cause local exposures that exceed recommended levels. The field results from Kalimantan were in reasonable agreement with recent (2012) lab measurements of smoldering Kalimantan peat for “overlap species,” lending importance to the lab finding that burning peat produces large emissions of acetamide, acrolein, methylglyoxal, etc., which were not measureable in the field with the deployed equipment and implying value in continued similar efforts. The aerosol optical data measured include EFs for the scattering and absorption coefficients (EF Bscat and EF Babs, m2/kg fuel burned) and the single scattering albedo (SSA) at 870 and 405 nm, as well as the absorption Ångstrӧm exponents (AAE). By coupling the absorption and co-located trace gas and filter data we estimated black carbon (BC) EFs (g/kg) and the mass absorption coefficient (MAC, m2/g) for the bulk organic carbon (OC) due to brown carbon (BrC). Consistent with the minimal flaming, the emissions of BC were negligible (0.0055 ± 0.0016 g/kg). Aerosol absorption at 405 nm was ~52 times larger than at 870 nm and BrC contributed ~96 % of the absorption at 405 nm. Average AAE was 4.97 ± 0.65 (range, 4.29–6.23). The average SSA at 405 nm (0.974 ± 0.016) was marginally lower than the average SSA at 870 nm (0.998 ± 0.001). These data facilitate modeling climate-relevant aerosol optical properties across much of the UV/visible spectrum and the high AAE and lower SSA at 405 nm demonstrate the dominance of absorption by the organic aerosol. Comparing the Babs at 405 nm to the simultaneously measured OC mass on filters suggests a low MAC (~0.1) for the bulk OC, as expected for the low BC / OC ratio in the aerosol. The importance of pyrolysis (at lower MCE), as opposed to glowing (at higher MCE), in producing BrC is seen in the increase of AAE with lower MCE (r2 = 0.65).


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldona Wiacek ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Keane Tobin ◽  
Morgan Mitchell

Abstract. Growing ship traffic in Atlantic Canada strengthens the local economy but also plays an important role in greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions in our coastal environment. A mobile open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectrometer was set up in Halifax Harbour (Nova Scotia, Canada), an intermediate harbour integrated into the downtown core, to measure trace gas concentrations in the vicinity of marine vessels, in some cases with direct or near-direct marine combustion plume intercepts. This is the first application of the OP-FTIR measurement technique to real-time, spectroscopic measurements of CO2, CO, O3, NO2, NH3, CH3OH, HCHO, CH4 and N2O in the vicinity of harbour emissions originating from a variety of marine vessels, and the first measurement of shipping emissions in the ambient environment along the eastern seaboard of North America outside of the Gulf Coast. The spectrometer, its active mid-IR source and detector were located on shore while the passive retroreflector was on a nearby island, yielding a 455-m open path over the ocean (910 m two-way). Atmospheric absorption spectra were recorded during day, night, sunny, cloudy and substantially foggy or precipitating conditions, with a temporal resolution of 1 minute or better. A weather station was co-located with the retroreflector to aid in processing of absorption spectra and interpretation of results, while a webcam recorded images of the harbour once per minute. Trace gas concentrations were retrieved from spectra by the MALT non-linear least squares iterative fitting routine. During field measurements (7 days in Jul–Aug, 2016; 12 days in Jan, 2017) Automatic Identification System (AIS) information on nearby ship activity was collected manually from a commercial website and used to calculate emission rates of shipping combustion products (CO2, CO, NOx, HC, SO2), which were then linked to measured concentration variations using ship position and wind information. During periods of low wind speed we observed extended (~ 9 hr) emission accumulations combined with near-complete O3 titration, both in winter and in summer. Our results compare well with a NAPS monitoring station ~ 1 km away, pointing to the extended spatial scale of this effect, commonly found in much larger European shipping channels. We calculated total marine sector emissions in Halifax Harbour based on a complete AIS dataset of ship activity during the cruise ship season (May–Oct 2015) and the remainder of the year (Nov 2015–Apr 2016) and found trace gas emissions (tonnes) to be on average 2.8 % higher during the cruise ship season, when passenger ship emissions were found to contribute 18 % of emitted CO2, CO, NOx, SO2 and HC (0.5 % off season). Similarly calculated particulate emissions are 4.1 % higher during the cruise ship season, when passenger ship emissions contribute 18 % of emitted PM (0.5 % off season). Tugs were found to make the biggest contribution to harbour emissions of trace gases in both cruise ship season (23 % NOx, 24 % SO2) and off season (26 % of both SO2 and NOx), followed by container ships (25 % NOx and SO2 in off season, 21 % NOx and SO2 in cruise ship season), but then either cruise ships in third place in season or tankers in third place off season, both responsible for 18 % of trace gas emissions. While the concentrations of all regulated trace gases measured by OP-FTIR as well as the nearby in situ NAPS sensors were well below maximum hourly permissible levels at all times during the 19 measurement days, we find that AIS-based shipping emissions of NOx over the course of one year are 4.2 times greater than those of a nearby 500 MW stationary source emitter and greater than or comparable to all vehicle NOx emissions in the city. Our findings highlight the need to accurately represent emissions of the shipping and marine sectors at intermediate ports integrated into urban environments. Emissions can be represented as pseudo-stationary and/or pseudo-line sources.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Feng Li ◽  
Gui-Peng Yang ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Maurice Levasseur ◽  
Chun-Ying Liu ◽  
...  

Environmental contextOcean acidification can affect marine microalgae, which can produce climate-active trace gases such as dimethylsulfide and various halocarbons. We conducted monoculture experiments simulating future ocean acidification, and showed that trace gas emissions are affected by elevated pCO2 to different degrees. The responses of trace gases to elevated pCO2 are compound- and species-specific. AbstractThe potential impacts of seawater acidification on the concentrations of dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), dissolved acrylic acid (AAd) and various volatile halocarbons, including CH3Cl, CHBr3, CH2Br2, CHBr2Cl, CHBrCl2 and CH3I, were examined during a laboratory CO2 perturbation experiment for the microalgae Phaeocystis globosa and Nitzschia closterium. The microalgae were exposed to ambient CO2 conditions (390–540 µatm; 1 µatm = 0.1 Pa) and to projected concentrations for the end of the century (760–1000 µatm, high carbon (HC)). The growth rate of the two species remained unaffected by elevated CO2. Results showed a 48 and 37 % decline in the DMS concentration normalised to cell density in P. globosa and N. closterium cultures in the HC treatment compared with the ambient treatment. No significant difference was observed for DMSPp and DMSPd in the two microalgae cultures between the two CO2 levels. The mean AAd concentrations in the P. globosa culture showed a 28 % decline in the HC treatment. By contrast, the cell-normalised concentrations of AAd in the HC treatment were 45 % lower than in the ambient treatment in N. closterium cultures. No CO2-induced effects were observed for CH3Cl, CHBr3, CHBr2Cl, CHBrCl2 and CH3I, but cell-normalised concentrations of CH2Br2 in N. closterium cultures showed a 32 % decline in the HC treatment relative to the ambient level. These results show that the metabolism processes responsible for the production of climate-active gases in phytoplankton may be affected by high CO2 levels. There may be a potential delay in the responses of trace gas emissions to elevated pCO2.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 13787-13812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldona Wiacek ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Keane Tobin ◽  
Morgan Mitchell

Abstract. Growing ship traffic in Atlantic Canada strengthens the local economy but also plays an important role in greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions in this coastal environment. A mobile open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR; acronyms defined in Appendix A) spectrometer was set up in Halifax Harbour (Nova Scotia, Canada), an intermediate harbour integrated into the downtown core, to measure trace gas concentrations in the vicinity of marine vessels, in some cases with direct or near-direct marine combustion plume intercepts. This is the first application of the OP-FTIR measurement technique to real-time, spectroscopic measurements of CO2, CO, O3, NO2, NH3, CH3OH, HCHO, CH4 and N2O in the vicinity of harbour emissions originating from a variety of marine vessels, and the first measurement of shipping emissions in the ambient environment along the eastern seaboard of North America outside of the Gulf Coast. The spectrometer, its active mid-IR source and its detector were located on shore while the passive retroreflector was on a nearby island, yielding a 455 m open path over the ocean (910 m two-way). Atmospheric absorption spectra were recorded during day, night, sunny, cloudy and substantially foggy or precipitating conditions, with a temporal resolution of 1 min or better. A weather station was co-located with the retroreflector to aid in the processing of absorption spectra and the interpretation of results, while a webcam recorded images of the harbour once per minute. Trace gas concentrations were retrieved from spectra by the MALT non-linear least squares iterative fitting routine. During field measurements (7 days in July–August 2016; 12 days in January 2017) AIS information on nearby ship activity was manually collected from a commercial website and used to calculate emission rates of shipping combustion products (CO2, CO, NOx, HC, SO2), which were then linked to measured concentration variations using ship position and wind information. During periods of low wind speed we observed extended (∼9 h) emission accumulations combined with near-complete O3 titration, both in winter and in summer. Our results compare well with a NAPS monitoring station ∼1 km away, pointing to the extended spatial scale of this effect, commonly found in much larger European shipping channels. We calculated total marine sector emissions in Halifax Harbour based on a complete AIS dataset of ship activity during the cruise ship season (May–October 2015) and the remainder of the year (November 2015–April 2016) and found trace gas emissions (tonnes) to be 2.8 % higher on average during the cruise ship season, when passenger ship emissions were found to contribute 18 % of emitted CO2, CO, NOx, SO2 and HC (0.5 % in the off season due to occasional cruise ships arriving, even in April). Similarly, calculated particulate emissions are 4.1 % higher during the cruise ship season, when passenger ship emissions contribute 18 % of the emitted particulate matter (PM) (0.5 % in the off season). Tugs were found to make the biggest contribution to harbour emissions of trace gases in both cruise ship season (23 % NOx, 24 % SO2) and the off season (26 % of both SO2 and NOx), followed by container ships (25 % NOx and SO2 in the off season, 21 % NOx and SO2 in cruise ship season). In the cruise ship season cruise ships were observed to be in third place regarding trace gas emissions, whilst tankers were in third place in the off season, with both being responsible for 18 % of the calculated emissions. While the concentrations of all regulated trace gases measured by OP-FTIR as well as the nearby in situ NAPS sensors were well below maximum hourly permissible levels at all times during the 19-day measurement period, we find that AIS-based shipping emissions of NOx over the course of 1 year are 4.2 times greater than those of a nearby 500 MW stationary source emitter and greater than or comparable to all vehicle NOx emissions in the city. Our findings highlight the need to accurately represent emissions from the shipping and marine sectors at intermediate ports integrated into urban environments. Emissions can be represented as pseudo-stationary and/or pseudo-line sources.


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