Unprecedented atmospheric ammonia concentrations detected in the high Arctic from the 2017 Canadian wildfires

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Main Authors: Lutsch, Erik, Strong, Kimberly, Jones, Dylan B. A., Ortega, Ivan, Hannigan, James, W, Dammers, Enrico, Shephard, Mark W., Morris, Eleanor, Murphy, Killian, Evans, Mathew J., Parrington, Mark, Whitburn, Simon, van Damme, Martin, Clarisse, Lieven, Coheur, Pierre-François, Clerbaux, Cathy, Croft, Betty, Martin, Martin V., Pierce, Jeffrey R., Fisher, Jenny A.
• Other Authors: Department of Physics Toronto, University of Toronto, National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory (ACOML), Air Quality Research Division Toronto, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories (WACL), University of York York, UK, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), TROPO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science Halifax, Dalhousie University Halifax, Department of Atmospheric Science Fort Collins, Colorado State University Fort Collins (CSU), Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry Wollongong (CAC), University of Wollongong Australia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Arctic; British Columbia; Canada; Eureka; Greenland; Northwest Territories; Nunavut; Canadian Archipelago; Thule
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-02182962; https://insu.hal.science/insu-02182962/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-02182962/file/Unprecedented%20Atmospheric%20Ammonia%20Concentrations%20Detected%20in%20the.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030419

International audience From 17‐22 August 2017 simultaneous enhancements of ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and ethane (C2H6) were detected from ground‐based solar absorption Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic measurements at two high‐Arctic sites: Eureka (80.05°N, 86.42°W) Nunavut, Canada and Thule (76.53°N, 68.74°W), Greenland. These enhancements were attributed to wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada using FLEXPART back‐trajectories and fire locations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and found to be the greatest observed enhancements in more than a decade of measurements at Eureka (2006‐2017) and Thule (1999‐2017). Observations of gas‐phase NH3 from these wildfires illustrates that boreal wildfires may be a considerable episodic source of NH3 in the summertime high Arctic. Comparisons of GEOS‐Chem model simulations using the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFASv1.2) biomass burning emissions to FTIR measurements and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements showed that the transport of wildfire emissions to the Arctic was underestimated in GEOS‐Chem. However, GEOS‐Chem simulations showed that these wildfires contributed to surface‐layer NH3 and urn:x-wiley:2169897X:media:jgrd55598:jgrd55598-math-0001 enhancements of 0.01‐0.11 ppbv and 0.05‐1.07 ppbv, respectively, over the Canadian Archipelago from 15‐23 August 2017.