EGU24-20824, updated on 11 Mar 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20824
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Biomass burning influence on tropospheric ozone from recent airborne and ground-based field studies

Steven Brown1,2, Ilann Bourgeios3, Wyndom Chace1,2,4, Matthew Coggon1, Andrew Langford1, Jeff Peischl1,4, Pamela Rickly1,4,5, Michael Robinson1,2,4, Christoph Senff1,4, and Kristen Zuraski1,4
Steven Brown et al.
  • 1NOAA, Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, United States of America (steven.s.brown@noaa.gov)
  • 2Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
  • 3University Savoie Mont Blanc, INRAE, CARRTEL, Thonon-Les-Bains, France
  • 4Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
  • 5Air Pollution Control Division, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, CO, USA

Biomass burning emits large quantities of ozone precursors, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), to the lower atmosphere.  Recent analysis of ozone and tracers for biomass burning and urban emissions in the remote atmosphere shows that a larger fraction of tropospheric ozone may be attributable to biomass burning than global models predict.  At continental and regional scales, increasing trends in biomass burning emissions in North America are associated with enhanced ozone in U.S. cities.  Ozone production within smoke plumes leads to enhanced regional scale backgrounds, while interaction of aged smoke with urban NOx pollution may lead to increased rates of ozone production depending on the local NOx sensitivity regime.  Several recent airborne and ground-based field studies have investigated ozone in biomass burning influenced air.  The 2016-2018 Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) sampled remote tropospheric biomass burning influence. The 2019 Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) sampled wildfire smoke across the U.S. with multiple research aircraft.  The 2022 California Fire Dynamics Experiment (CalFiDE) conducted focused in-situ and remote sensing measurements in California and Oregon.  Ground-based measurements in Boulder, Colorado intercepted periods of smoke influence in the Northern Front Range urban area in 2020 and 2021.  Finally, the 2023 Atmospheric Emissions and Reactivity Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) campaign on the NASA DC-8 and the Coastal Urban Plume Dynamics Study (CUPiDS) on the NOAA Twin Otter observed long range smoke transported to U.S. urban areas and the associated impacts on ozone.  These studies provide a comprehensive analysis of the biomass burning influence on tropospheric ozone at all scales, from near field plume chemistry to the global remote troposphere, and from the continental background to local urban influence.

How to cite: Brown, S., Bourgeios, I., Chace, W., Coggon, M., Langford, A., Peischl, J., Rickly, P., Robinson, M., Senff, C., and Zuraski, K.: Biomass burning influence on tropospheric ozone from recent airborne and ground-based field studies, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-20824, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-20824, 2024.