Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires

Demetrios Pagonis; Vanessa Selimovic; Pedro Campuzano-Jost; Hongyu Guo; Douglas A. Day; Melinda K. Schueneman; Benjamin A. Nault; Matthew M. Coggon; Joshua P. DiGangi; Glenn S. Diskin; Edward C. Fortner; Emily M. Gargulinski; Georgios I. Gkatzelis; Johnathan W. Hair; Scott C. Herndon; Christopher D. Holmes; Joseph M. Katich; John B. Nowak; Anne E. Perring; Pablo Saide; Taylor J. Shingler; Amber J. Soja; Laura H. Thapa; Carsten Warneke; Elizabeth B. Wiggins; Armin Wisthaler; Tara I. Yacovitch; Robert J. Yokelson; Jose L. Jimenez

doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires

Demetrios Pagonis
, Vanessa Selimovic
, Pedro Campuzano-Jost
, Hongyu Guo
, Douglas A. Day
, Melinda K. Schueneman
, Benjamin A. Nault
, Matthew M. Coggon
, Joshua P. DiGangi
, Glenn S. Diskin
, Edward C. Fortner
, Emily M. Gargulinski
, Georgios I. Gkatzelis
, Johnathan W. Hair
, Scott C. Herndon
, Christopher D. Holmes
, Joseph M. Katich
, John B. Nowak
, Anne E. Perring
, Pablo Saide

Taylor J. Shingler, Amber J. Soja, Laura H. Thapa, Carsten Warneke, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Armin Wisthaler, Tara I. Yacovitch, Robert J. Yokelson, Jose L. Jimenez

Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of Colorado Boulder
Weber State University
University of Montana
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NASA Langley Research Center
Aerodyne Research, Inc.
National Institute of Aerospace
Florida State University
Colgate University
University of California at Los Angeles
University of Oslo
University of Innsbruck

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Biomass burning particulate matter (BBPM) affects regional air quality and global climate, with impacts expected to continue to grow over the coming years. We show that studies of North American fires have a systematic altitude dependence in measured BBPM normalized excess mixing ratio (NEMR; ΔPM/ΔCO), with airborne and high-altitude studies showing a factor of 2 higher NEMR than ground-based measurements. We report direct airborne measurements of BBPM volatility that partially explain the difference in the BBPM NEMR observed across platforms. We find that when heated to 40-45 °C in an airborne thermal denuder, 19% of lofted smoke PM₁ evaporates. Thermal denuder measurements are consistent with evaporation observed when a single smoke plume was sampled across a range of temperatures as the plume descended from 4 to 2 km altitude. We also demonstrate that chemical aging of smoke and differences in PM emission factors can not fully explain the platform-dependent differences. When the measured PM volatility is applied to output from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh Smoke regional model, we predict a lower PM NEMR at the surface compared to the lofted smoke measured by aircraft. These results emphasize the significant role that gas-particle partitioning plays in determining the air quality impacts of wildfire smoke.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	17011-17021
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology
Volume	57
Issue number	44
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05017
State	Published - Nov 7 2023

Funding

We thank the crews, pilots, and support staff from all the field campaigns included for making these measurements possible. The CU HR-AMS team was funded by NASA grants 80NSSC18K0630, 80NSSC19K0124, and 80NSSC21K1451. Work by DP at Weber State University was funded by NASA grant 80NSSC21K1451. VS and RY were supported by the NSF grant AGS-1748266 and NOAA-CPO grant NA16OAR4310100. The WE-CAN measurements herein were supported by the NOAA OAR Climate Program Office Award No. NA17OAR4310010. The Fuel2Fire team (AJS, EMG, and EBW) were supported by NASA grants 80NSSC18K0685 and 80NSSC21K1456. We acknowledge the work of many additional scientists for the generation and analysis of the data used in this work. This includes, but is not limited to, Eben Cross, Conner Daube, Christoph Dyroff, Delphine Farmer, Andy Freedman, Alan Fried, Lauren Garofalo, Hannah Halliday, Anne Handschy, Thomas Hanisco, Jordan Krechmer, Matson Pothier, J. Rob Roscioli, Joshua Schwarz, and Glenn Wolfe.

Funders	Funder number
80NSSC21K1456, NA17OAR4310010, 80NSSC18K0685
NA16OAR4310100
AGS-1748266
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	80NSSC18K0630, 80NSSC19K0124, 80NSSC21K1451

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Biomass burning organic aerosol volatility
volatility basis set

Access to Document

10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

Cite this

Pagonis, D., Selimovic, V., Campuzano-Jost, P., Guo, H., Day, D. A., Schueneman, M. K., Nault, B. A., Coggon, M. M., DiGangi, J. P., Diskin, G. S., Fortner, E. C., Gargulinski, E. M., Gkatzelis, G. I., Hair, J. W., Herndon, S. C., Holmes, C. D., Katich, J. M., Nowak, J. B., Perring, A. E., ... Jimenez, J. L. (2023). Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires. Environmental Science and Technology, 57(44), 17011-17021. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

@article{8e74189c7f1c4c97bfe2ce42d6128948,

title = "Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires",

abstract = "Biomass burning particulate matter (BBPM) affects regional air quality and global climate, with impacts expected to continue to grow over the coming years. We show that studies of North American fires have a systematic altitude dependence in measured BBPM normalized excess mixing ratio (NEMR; ΔPM/ΔCO), with airborne and high-altitude studies showing a factor of 2 higher NEMR than ground-based measurements. We report direct airborne measurements of BBPM volatility that partially explain the difference in the BBPM NEMR observed across platforms. We find that when heated to 40-45 °C in an airborne thermal denuder, 19\% of lofted smoke PM1 evaporates. Thermal denuder measurements are consistent with evaporation observed when a single smoke plume was sampled across a range of temperatures as the plume descended from 4 to 2 km altitude. We also demonstrate that chemical aging of smoke and differences in PM emission factors can not fully explain the platform-dependent differences. When the measured PM volatility is applied to output from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh Smoke regional model, we predict a lower PM NEMR at the surface compared to the lofted smoke measured by aircraft. These results emphasize the significant role that gas-particle partitioning plays in determining the air quality impacts of wildfire smoke.",

keywords = "Biomass burning organic aerosol volatility, volatility basis set",

author = "Demetrios Pagonis and Vanessa Selimovic and Pedro Campuzano-Jost and Hongyu Guo and Day, \{Douglas A.\} and Schueneman, \{Melinda K.\} and Nault, \{Benjamin A.\} and Coggon, \{Matthew M.\} and DiGangi, \{Joshua P.\} and Diskin, \{Glenn S.\} and Fortner, \{Edward C.\} and Gargulinski, \{Emily M.\} and Gkatzelis, \{Georgios I.\} and Hair, \{Johnathan W.\} and Herndon, \{Scott C.\} and Holmes, \{Christopher D.\} and Katich, \{Joseph M.\} and Nowak, \{John B.\} and Perring, \{Anne E.\} and Pablo Saide and Shingler, \{Taylor J.\} and Soja, \{Amber J.\} and Thapa, \{Laura H.\} and Carsten Warneke and Wiggins, \{Elizabeth B.\} and Armin Wisthaler and Yacovitch, \{Tara I.\} and Yokelson, \{Robert J.\} and Jimenez, \{Jose L.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

day = "7",

doi = "10.1021/acs.est.3c05017",

language = "English",

volume = "57",

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journal = "Environmental Science and Technology",

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Pagonis, D, Selimovic, V, Campuzano-Jost, P, Guo, H, Day, DA, Schueneman, MK, Nault, BA, Coggon, MM, DiGangi, JP, Diskin, GS, Fortner, EC, Gargulinski, EM, Gkatzelis, GI, Hair, JW, Herndon, SC, Holmes, CD, Katich, JM, Nowak, JB, Perring, AE, Saide, P, Shingler, TJ, Soja, AJ, Thapa, LH, Warneke, C, Wiggins, EB, Wisthaler, A, Yacovitch, TI, Yokelson, RJ & Jimenez, JL 2023, 'Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 57, no. 44, pp. 17011-17021. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires

AU - Pagonis, Demetrios

AU - Selimovic, Vanessa

AU - Campuzano-Jost, Pedro

AU - Guo, Hongyu

AU - Day, Douglas A.

AU - Schueneman, Melinda K.

AU - Nault, Benjamin A.

AU - Coggon, Matthew M.

AU - DiGangi, Joshua P.

AU - Diskin, Glenn S.

AU - Fortner, Edward C.

AU - Gargulinski, Emily M.

AU - Gkatzelis, Georgios I.

AU - Hair, Johnathan W.

AU - Herndon, Scott C.

AU - Holmes, Christopher D.

AU - Katich, Joseph M.

AU - Nowak, John B.

AU - Perring, Anne E.

AU - Saide, Pablo

AU - Shingler, Taylor J.

AU - Soja, Amber J.

AU - Thapa, Laura H.

AU - Warneke, Carsten

AU - Wiggins, Elizabeth B.

AU - Wisthaler, Armin

AU - Yacovitch, Tara I.

AU - Yokelson, Robert J.

AU - Jimenez, Jose L.

PY - 2023/11/7

Y1 - 2023/11/7

N2 - Biomass burning particulate matter (BBPM) affects regional air quality and global climate, with impacts expected to continue to grow over the coming years. We show that studies of North American fires have a systematic altitude dependence in measured BBPM normalized excess mixing ratio (NEMR; ΔPM/ΔCO), with airborne and high-altitude studies showing a factor of 2 higher NEMR than ground-based measurements. We report direct airborne measurements of BBPM volatility that partially explain the difference in the BBPM NEMR observed across platforms. We find that when heated to 40-45 °C in an airborne thermal denuder, 19% of lofted smoke PM1 evaporates. Thermal denuder measurements are consistent with evaporation observed when a single smoke plume was sampled across a range of temperatures as the plume descended from 4 to 2 km altitude. We also demonstrate that chemical aging of smoke and differences in PM emission factors can not fully explain the platform-dependent differences. When the measured PM volatility is applied to output from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh Smoke regional model, we predict a lower PM NEMR at the surface compared to the lofted smoke measured by aircraft. These results emphasize the significant role that gas-particle partitioning plays in determining the air quality impacts of wildfire smoke.

AB - Biomass burning particulate matter (BBPM) affects regional air quality and global climate, with impacts expected to continue to grow over the coming years. We show that studies of North American fires have a systematic altitude dependence in measured BBPM normalized excess mixing ratio (NEMR; ΔPM/ΔCO), with airborne and high-altitude studies showing a factor of 2 higher NEMR than ground-based measurements. We report direct airborne measurements of BBPM volatility that partially explain the difference in the BBPM NEMR observed across platforms. We find that when heated to 40-45 °C in an airborne thermal denuder, 19% of lofted smoke PM1 evaporates. Thermal denuder measurements are consistent with evaporation observed when a single smoke plume was sampled across a range of temperatures as the plume descended from 4 to 2 km altitude. We also demonstrate that chemical aging of smoke and differences in PM emission factors can not fully explain the platform-dependent differences. When the measured PM volatility is applied to output from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh Smoke regional model, we predict a lower PM NEMR at the surface compared to the lofted smoke measured by aircraft. These results emphasize the significant role that gas-particle partitioning plays in determining the air quality impacts of wildfire smoke.

KW - Biomass burning organic aerosol volatility

KW - volatility basis set

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85176496575

U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

DO - 10.1021/acs.est.3c05017

M3 - Article

C2 - 37874964

AN - SCOPUS:85176496575

SN - 0013-936X

VL - 57

SP - 17011

EP - 17021

JO - Environmental Science and Technology

JF - Environmental Science and Technology

IS - 44

ER -

Impact of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol Volatility on Smoke Concentrations Downwind of Fires

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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