Emissions relationships in western forest fire plumes – Part 1: Reducing the effect of mixing errors on emission factors

Chatfield, Robert B.; Andreae, Meinrat O.; ARCTAS Science Team,; SEAC4RS Science Team,

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020

Articles | Volume 13, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 12

Research article

|

23 Dec 2020

Research article |

| 23 Dec 2020

Emissions relationships in western forest fire plumes – Part 1: Reducing the effect of mixing errors on emission factors

Robert B. Chatfield, Meinrat O. Andreae, ARCTAS Science Team, and SEAC4RS Science Team

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7069-2020-supplement

Data sets

Data Archive: ARCTAS Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/arctas/arctas.html

Data Archive: SEAC4RS Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/seac4rs/

Short summary

Forest burning affects air pollution and global climate. A NASA aircraft studied fire emissions including the Rim Fire near Yosemite. We found frequent confusions between the actual fire emission factors and other effects on the air samples. Effects on CO₂ and CO can originate far upwind; the gases can mix variably into a smoke plume. We devised a theory of constant features in plumes. A statistical mixed-effects analysis of a co-emitted tracers model disentangles such mixing from fire effects.