The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions
Forest fires in Alaska and western Canada represent important sources of aerosols and trace gases in North America. Among the largest uncertainties when modeling forest fire effects are the timing and injection height of biomass burning emissions. Here we simulate CO and aerosols over North America...
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ftcdlib:qt1ts1s74q 2023-05-15T16:35:32+02:00 The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions Chen, Y. Li, Q. Randerson, J. T Lyons, E. A Kahn, R. A Nelson, D. L Diner, D. J 6559 - 6580 2009-09-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q english eng eScholarship, University of California qt1ts1s74q http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Chen, Y.; Li, Q.; Randerson, J. T; Lyons, E. A; Kahn, R. A; Nelson, D. L; et al.(2009). The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 9(17), 6559 - 6580. doi:10.5194/acp-9-6559-2009. UC Irvine: Department of Earth System Science, UCI. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q Physical Sciences and Mathematics aerosol biomass burning black carbon boreal forest EOS forest fire ground-based measurement long range transport satellite imagery simulation temporal distribution trace gas vertical profile Alaska North America United States article 2009 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-6559-2009 2016-04-02T18:45:09Z Forest fires in Alaska and western Canada represent important sources of aerosols and trace gases in North America. Among the largest uncertainties when modeling forest fire effects are the timing and injection height of biomass burning emissions. Here we simulate CO and aerosols over North America during the 2004 fire season, using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. We apply different temporal distributions and injection height profiles to the biomass burning emissions, and compare model results with satellite-, aircraft-, and ground-based measurements. We find that averaged over the fire season, the use of finer temporal resolved biomass burning emissions usually decreases CO and aerosol concentrations near the fire source region, and often enhances long-range transport. Among the individual temporal constraints, switching from monthly to 8-day time intervals for emissions has the largest effect on CO and aerosol distributions, and shows better agreement with measured day-to-day variability. Injection height substantially modifies the surface concentrations and vertical profiles of pollutants near the source region. Compared with CO, the simulation of black carbon aerosol is more sensitive to the temporal and injection height distribution of emissions. The use of MISR-derived injection heights improves agreement with surface aerosol measurements near the fire source. Our results indicate that the discrepancies between model simulations and MOPITT CO measurements near the Hudson Bay can not be attributed solely to the representation of injection height within the model. Frequent occurrence of strong convection in North America during summer tends to limit the influence of injection height parameterizations of fire emissions in Alaska and western Canada with respect to CO and aerosol distributions over eastern North America. Article in Journal/Newspaper Hudson Bay Alaska University of California: eScholarship Canada Hudson Hudson Bay Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 9 17 6559 6580 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics aerosol biomass burning black carbon boreal forest EOS forest fire ground-based measurement long range transport satellite imagery simulation temporal distribution trace gas vertical profile Alaska North America United States |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics aerosol biomass burning black carbon boreal forest EOS forest fire ground-based measurement long range transport satellite imagery simulation temporal distribution trace gas vertical profile Alaska North America United States Chen, Y. Li, Q. Randerson, J. T Lyons, E. A Kahn, R. A Nelson, D. L Diner, D. J The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics aerosol biomass burning black carbon boreal forest EOS forest fire ground-based measurement long range transport satellite imagery simulation temporal distribution trace gas vertical profile Alaska North America United States |
description |
Forest fires in Alaska and western Canada represent important sources of aerosols and trace gases in North America. Among the largest uncertainties when modeling forest fire effects are the timing and injection height of biomass burning emissions. Here we simulate CO and aerosols over North America during the 2004 fire season, using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. We apply different temporal distributions and injection height profiles to the biomass burning emissions, and compare model results with satellite-, aircraft-, and ground-based measurements. We find that averaged over the fire season, the use of finer temporal resolved biomass burning emissions usually decreases CO and aerosol concentrations near the fire source region, and often enhances long-range transport. Among the individual temporal constraints, switching from monthly to 8-day time intervals for emissions has the largest effect on CO and aerosol distributions, and shows better agreement with measured day-to-day variability. Injection height substantially modifies the surface concentrations and vertical profiles of pollutants near the source region. Compared with CO, the simulation of black carbon aerosol is more sensitive to the temporal and injection height distribution of emissions. The use of MISR-derived injection heights improves agreement with surface aerosol measurements near the fire source. Our results indicate that the discrepancies between model simulations and MOPITT CO measurements near the Hudson Bay can not be attributed solely to the representation of injection height within the model. Frequent occurrence of strong convection in North America during summer tends to limit the influence of injection height parameterizations of fire emissions in Alaska and western Canada with respect to CO and aerosol distributions over eastern North America. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chen, Y. Li, Q. Randerson, J. T Lyons, E. A Kahn, R. A Nelson, D. L Diner, D. J |
author_facet |
Chen, Y. Li, Q. Randerson, J. T Lyons, E. A Kahn, R. A Nelson, D. L Diner, D. J |
author_sort |
Chen, Y. |
title |
The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
title_short |
The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
title_full |
The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
title_fullStr |
The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
title_full_unstemmed |
The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions |
title_sort |
sensitivity of co and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of north american boreal fire emissions |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q |
op_coverage |
6559 - 6580 |
geographic |
Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
geographic_facet |
Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
genre |
Hudson Bay Alaska |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Alaska |
op_source |
Chen, Y.; Li, Q.; Randerson, J. T; Lyons, E. A; Kahn, R. A; Nelson, D. L; et al.(2009). The sensitivity of CO and aerosol transport to the temporal and vertical distribution of North American boreal fire emissions. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 9(17), 6559 - 6580. doi:10.5194/acp-9-6559-2009. UC Irvine: Department of Earth System Science, UCI. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q |
op_relation |
qt1ts1s74q http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1ts1s74q |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-6559-2009 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
6559 |
op_container_end_page |
6580 |
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1766025769310486528 |