Summer PM2.5 Pollution Extremes Caused by Wildfires Over the Western United States During 2017–2018

Xie, Yuanyu; Lin, Meiyun; Horowitz, Larry W.

doi:10.1029/2020GL089429

i

Summer PM2.5 Pollution Extremes Caused by Wildfires Over the Western United States During 2017–2018

2020
By Xie, Yuanyu ; Lin, Meiyun ; Horowitz, Larry W.

Details

Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Xie, Yuanyu ; Lin, Meiyun ; Horowitz, Larry W.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ; CICSP (Cooperative Institute for Climate Science) ; CIMES (Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System)
Description:

Using observations and model simulations (ESM4.1) during 1988–2018, we show large year-to-year variability in western U.S. PM2.5 pollution caused by regional and distant fires. Widespread wildfires, combined with stagnation, caused summer PM2.5 pollution in 2017 and 2018 to exceed 2 standard deviations over long-term averages. ESM4.1 with a fire emission inventory constrained by satellite-derived fire radiative energy and aerosol optical depth captures the observed surface PM2.5 means and extremes above the 35 μg/m3 U.S. air quality standard. However, aerosol emissions from the widely used Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) must be increased by 5 times for ESM4.1 to match observations. On days when observed PM2.5 reached 35–175 μg/m3, wildfire emissions can explain 90% of total PM2.5, with smoke transported from Canada contributing 25–50% in northern states, according to model sensitivity simulations. Fire emission uncertainties pose challenges to accurately assessing the impacts of fire smoke on air quality, radiation, and climate.
Keywords:

Air Pollution Wildfires
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 47(16)
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089429
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA14OAR4320106 ; Grant no. NA18OAR4320123
Rights Information:

Other
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:ad92cb49426c8db5570f2c1514812757330bb6e67c0b26271213f349babfa343271b4f9e8df287e6da530e95b7aeb4748387704c74d5596ac0088f397934f512
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/27290/noaa_27290_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 2.50 MB ]

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