Review of Wildfire smoke-plume rise: a simple energy balance parameterization by Nadya Moisseeva and Roland Stull

Abstract. The buoyant rise and the resultant vertical distribution of wildfire smoke in the atmosphere have a strong influence on downwind pollutant concentrations at the surface. The amount of smoke injected vs. height is a key input into chemical transport models and smoke modelling frameworks. Due to scarcity of model evaluation data as well as inherent complexity of wildfire plume dynamics, smoke injection height predictions have large uncertainties. In this work we use a coupled fire-atmosphere model WRF-SFIRE configured in large eddy simulation (LES) mode to develop a synthetic plume dataset. Using this numerical data, we demonstrate that crosswind integrated smoke injection height for a fire of arbitrary shape and intensity can be modelled with a simple energy balance. We introduce two forms of updraft velocity scales that exhibit a linear dimensionless relationship with the plume vertical penetration distance through daytime convective boundary layers. Lastly, we use LES and prescribed burn data to constrain and evaluate the model. Our results suggest that the proposed simple parameterization of mean plume rise as a function of vertical velocity scale offers reasonable accuracy (30 m errors) at little computational cost.

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Wildfire smoke-plume rise: a simple energy balance parameterization

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-21-1407-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 1407-1425

Author(s):

Nadya Moisseeva ◽

Roland Stull

Keyword(s):

Energy Balance ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Numerical Data ◽

Plume Rise ◽

Prescribed Burn ◽

Convective Boundary ◽

Wildfire Smoke ◽

Eddy Simulation ◽

Pollutant Concentrations ◽

Height Predictions

Abstract. The buoyant rise and the resultant vertical distribution of wildfire smoke in the atmosphere have a strong influence on downwind pollutant concentrations at the surface. The amount of smoke injected vs. height is a key input into chemical transport models and smoke modelling frameworks. Due to scarcity of model evaluation data as well as the inherent complexity of wildfire plume dynamics, smoke injection height predictions have large uncertainties. In this work we use the coupled fire–atmosphere model WRF-SFIRE configured in large-eddy simulation (LES) mode to develop a synthetic plume dataset. Using this numerical data, we demonstrate that crosswind integrated smoke injection height for a fire of arbitrary shape and intensity can be modelled with a simple energy balance. We introduce two forms of updraft velocity scales that exhibit a linear dimensionless relationship with the plume vertical penetration distance through daytime convective boundary layers. Lastly, we use LES and prescribed burn data to constrain and evaluate the model. Our results suggest that the proposed simple parameterization of mean plume rise as a function of vertical velocity scale offers reasonable accuracy (30 m errors) at little computational cost.

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Important parameters for smoke plume rise simulation with Daysmoke

Atmospheric Pollution Research ◽

10.5094/apr.2010.032 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 250-259 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Yongqiang Liu ◽

Gary L. Achtemeier ◽

Scott L. Goodrick ◽

William A. Jackson

Keyword(s):

Plume Rise ◽

Smoke Plume

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Validation of smoke plume rise models using ground-based Lidar

10.1117/12.2066895 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

V. Kovalev ◽

S. Urbanski ◽

A. Petkov ◽

A. Scalise ◽

C. Wold ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plume Rise ◽

Smoke Plume ◽

Ground Based Lidar

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Capturing Plume Rise and Dispersion with a Coupled Large-Eddy Simulation: Case Study of a Prescribed Burn

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos10100579 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 579

Author(s):

Nadya Moisseeva ◽

Roland Stull

Keyword(s):

Large Eddy Simulation ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Real Life ◽

Plume Rise ◽

Atmospheric Conditions ◽

Prescribed Burn ◽

Smoke Plume ◽

Fire Emissions ◽

Eddy Simulation ◽

Large Eddy

Current understanding of the buoyant rise and subsequent dispersion of smoke due to wildfires has been limited by the complexity of interactions between fire behavior and atmospheric conditions, as well as the uncertainty in model evaluation data. To assess the feasibility of using numerical models to address this knowledge gap, we designed a large-eddy simulation of a real-life prescribed burn using a coupled semi-emperical fire–atmosphere model. We used observational data to evaluate the simulated smoke plume, as well as to identify sources of model biases. The results suggest that the rise and dispersion of fire emissions are reasonably captured by the model, subject to accurate surface thermal forcing and relatively steady atmospheric conditions. Overall, encouraging model performance and the high level of detail offered by simulated data may help inform future smoke plume modeling work, plume-rise parameterizations and field experiment designs.

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Modeling Smoke Plume-Rise and Dispersion from Southern United States Prescribed Burns with Daysmoke

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos2030358 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 358-388 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Gary L. Achtemeier ◽

Scott A. Goodrick ◽

Yongqiang Liu ◽

Fernando Garcia-Menendez ◽

Yongtao Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Southern United States ◽

Plume Rise ◽

Prescribed Burns ◽

Smoke Plume

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Impacts of the July 2012 Siberian Fire Plume on Air Quality in the Pacific Northwest

10.5194/acp-2016-302 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Teakles ◽

Rita So ◽

Bruce Ainslie ◽

Robert Nissen ◽

Corinne Schiller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Air Quality ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Quality Standards ◽

Smoke Plume ◽

Air Quality Standards ◽

Wildfire Smoke ◽

The Pacific ◽

Modis Aod

Abstract. Biomass burning emissions emit a significant amount of trace gases and aerosols and can affect atmospheric chemistry and radiative forcing for hundreds or thousands of kilometers downwind. They can also contribute to exceedances of air quality standards and have negative impacts on human health. We present a case study of an intense wildfire plume from Siberia that affected the air quality across the Pacific Northwest on July 6–10, 2012. Using satellite measurements (MODIS True Colour RGB imagery and MODIS AOD), trajectories, and dispersion modelling, we track the wildfire smoke plume from its origin in Siberia to the Pacific Northwest where subsidence ahead of a subtropical Pacific High made the plume settle over the region. The normalized enhancement ratio of O3 and PM1 relative to CO of 0.26 and 0.09 are consistent with a plume aged 6–10 days. The aerosol mass in the plume was mainly submicron in diameter (PM1/PM2.5 = 0.97) and the part of the plume sampled at the peak of Whistler Mountain was 87 % organic material. Stable atmospheric conditions along the coast limited the initial entrainment of the plume and caused local anthropogenic emissions to buildup. A synthesis of air quality from the regional surface monitoring networks describes changes in ambient O3 and PM2.5 during the event and contrasts them to baseline air quality estimates from the AURAMS chemical transport model without wildfire emissions. Overall, the smoke plume contributed significantly to the exceedances in O3 and PMM2.5 air quality standards and objectives that occurred at several communities in the region during the event. Peak enhancements in 8-hr O3 of 34–44 ppbv and 24-hr PM2.5 of 14–32 μg/m3 were attributed to the effects of the smoke plume across the Interior of British Columbia and at the Whistler Peak high elevation site (2182 m ASL). Lesser enhancements of 10–12 ppbv for 8-hr O3 and of 4–9 μg/m3 for 24-hr PM2.5 occurred at Whistler Peak and across coastal British Columbia and Washington State. The findings suggest that the large air quality impacts seen during this event were a combination of the efficient transport of the plume across the Pacific, favorable entrainment conditions across the BC interior and the large scale of the Siberian wildfire emissions. A warming climate increases the risk of increased wildfire activity and events of this scale re-occurring under appropriate meteorological conditions.

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Line Plume Approximation on Atrium Smoke Filling With Thermal Stratified Environment

Journal of Heat Transfer ◽

10.1115/1.1532009 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 125 (2) ◽

pp. 289-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. Li ◽

W. K. Chow

Keyword(s):

Plume Rise ◽

Upward Motion ◽

Smoke Plume ◽

Air Density ◽

Smoke Filling ◽

Balcony Spill Plume

Upward motion of a balcony spill plume in an atrium with a thermal stratified layer will be simulated. This is aimed at answering the question on whether a smoke plume can move up an atrium to reach the ceiling. The gradient of air density in the atrium is taken as a constant negative value. The plume motion under this condition is compared with the case without a thermal stratified layer. It is noted that the effect of stratification is not obvious in regions near to the fire. But for the upper region of the plume, the effect is significant. In this way, the plume might not be able to reach the ceiling of an atrium with a hot enough thermal stratified layer. The maximum plume rise under this condition will also be calculated.

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Technical Note: Sensitivity of 1-D smoke plume rise models to the inclusion of environmental wind drag

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-9-14713-2009 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 14713-14733 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. R. Freitas ◽

K. M. Longo ◽

J. Trentmann ◽

D. Latham

Keyword(s):

Amazon Basin ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Atmospheric Model ◽

Technical Note ◽

Atmospheric Environment ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Plume Rise ◽

Additional Increase ◽

Smoke Plume ◽

D Model

Abstract. We revisit the parameterization of the vertical transport of hot gases and particles emitted from biomass burning, described in Freitas et al. (2007), to include the effects of environmental wind on transport and dilution of the smoke plume at the cloud scale. Typically, the final vertical height that the smoke plumes reach is controlled by the thermodynamic stability of the atmospheric environment and the surface heat flux released by the fire. However, the presence of a strong horizontal wind can enhance the lateral entrainment and induce additional drag, particularly for small fires, impacting the smoke injection height. This process is quantitatively represented by introducing an additional entrainment term to account for organized inflow of a mass of cooler and drier ambient air into the plume and its drag by momentum transfer. An extended set of equations including the horizontal motion of the plume and the additional increase of the plume radius is solved to explicitly simulate the time evolution of the plume rise with the additional mass and momentum. One-dimensional (1-D) model results are presented for two deforestation fires in the Amazon basin with sizes of 10 and 50 ha under calm and windy atmospheric environments. The results are compared to corresponding simulations generated by the complex non-hydrostatic three dimensional (3-D) Active Tracer High resolution Atmospheric Model (ATHAM). We show that the 1-D model results compare well with the full 3-D simulations. The 1-D model may thus be used in field situations where extensive computing facilities are not available, especially under conditions for which several optional cases must be studied.

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