QUANTIFYING FOREST FIRE ENHANCEMENT OF THE FREE TROPOSPHERIC OZONE COLUMN DURING THE IONS-04, IONS-06, AND ARC-IONS CAMPAIGNS

• Main Author: Luzik, Alaina Marie
• Other Authors: Anne Mee Thompson
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Penn State 2009
• Subjects: Meteorology; Arctic; Egbert; Climate change
• Online Access: http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/theses/approved/WorldWideIndex/ETD-3889/index.html

The Arctic is a beacon of climate change and a haven for pollution from the mid-latitudes and summer boreal fires. Ozonesonde profiles from the Arctic Intensive Ozonesonde Network Study (ARC-IONS) collected from June 26, 2008 to July 12, 2008 at Egbert, ON; Goose Bay, NF; Sable Island, NS; and Yarmouth, NS; were analyzed using a laminar identification (LID) method. The LID method classifies ozone into four different sources: boundary layer ozone, regional convection and lightning generated ozone, stratospherically injected ozone, and aged and advected ozone. The amount of fire-enhanced ozone was refined from the aged and advected ozone term by analyzing maps of MODIS fire hot spots, fire danger maps and approximate smoke plume heights to quantify the amount of forest fire enhanced ozone. In order to build a climatology of fire-generated ozone at these sites, the refined LID method was applied also to the IONS (INTEX (Intercontinental Transport Experiment) Ozonesonde Network Study) 2004 and IONS-06 data sets. The average amount of forest fire enhanced ozone at these four sites during all three campaigns was 5 DU or 12% of the total tropospheric ozone column. During the IONS-04 campaign, forest fires contributed 5 DU to the tropospheric ozone column at all three sites. The least amount of fire-enhanced ozone occurred during the IONS-06 campaign, because most of the fire enhancement was caused by smaller fires in the Midwestern U.S. ARC-IONS had the largest amount of fire influence, ranging from 2 DU at Goose Bay, NF to 7 DU at Sable Island, NS.