A satellite and model-based assessment of the 2003 Russian fires : Impact on the Arctic region

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research
• Main Authors: Generoso, Sylvia, Bey, Isabelle, Attié, Jean-Luc, Breon, Francois-Marie
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Modélisation de la Chimie Atmosphérique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratoire d'aérologie (LAERO), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Modélisation INVerse pour les mesures atmosphériques et SATellitaires (SATINV), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA))
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: Arctic; biomass burning; long-range transport; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; black carbon
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00561395; https://hal.science/hal-00561395/document; https://hal.science/hal-00561395/file/2006JD008344.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008344

International audience n this paper, we address the issues of the representation of boreal fires in a global chemistry and transport model (GEOS-Chem) as well as their contribution to the Arctic aerosol optical thickness and black carbon (BC) deposition, with a focus on the 2003 Russian fires. We use satellite observations from the MOPITT, POLDER and MODIS sensors to evaluate the model performances in simulating the fire pollution export over the North Pacific. Our results show that aerosol and carbon monoxide (CO) outflow is best reproduced in our model when fire emissions are (1) increased to 72 Tg for CO, 0.5 Tg C for BC, and 5.3 Tg C for organic carbon over the entire fire season; (2) prescribed on a daily basis; and (3) injected up to 4.5 km in July and August. The use of daily, rather than monthly, biomass burning emission inventories improves significantly the representation of the aerosol outflow, but has little impact on CO. The injection of fire emissions above the boundary layer influences both the CO and aerosol columns but only during the late fire season. The model improvements with respect to the standard configuration induce an increase of a factor up to 2 on the aerosol optical thickness and the mass of BC deposited in the Northern Hemisphere. According to our improved simulation, the 2003 Russian fires contributed to 16–33% of the aerosol optical thickness and to 40–56% of the mass of BC deposited, north of 75°N in spring and summer. They contribute to the aerosol optical thickness by more than 30% during the days of Arctic haze events in spring and summer.