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Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 10, 26751-26812, 2010
www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/26751/2010/ doi:10.5194/acpd-10-26751-2010 © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
Reconstructing ozone chemistry from Asian wild fires using models, satellite and aircraft measurements during the ARCTAS campaign
1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
2NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, Madison, WI, USA
3NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
4Science Systems and Applications, Inc, Hampton, VA, USA
5Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
6National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
7University of New Hampshire – EOS, Durham, NH, USA
8School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Abstract. We use ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) satellite measurements from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), simulations from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) and aircraft data from the NASA DC8 aircraft to characterize the chemical and dynamical evolution of Asian wildfire plumes during the spring ARCTAS campaign 2008. On the 19 April, NASA DC8 O3 and aerosol Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) observed two biomass burning plumes originating from North-Western Asia (Kazakhstan) and South-Eastern Asia (Thailand) that advected eastward over the Pacific reaching North America in 10 to 12 days. Using both TES observations and RAQMS chemical analyses, we track the wildfire plumes from their source to the ARCTAS DC8 platform. Comparison between satellite O3 and CO measurements and model results show consistency when the TES averaging kernel and constraint vector are applied to the model. However, RAQMS CO simulations suggest that TES observations do not capture the full range of CO variability in the plume due to low sensitivity. In both plumes, exchanges between the stratosphere and the troposphere tend to be a major factor influencing O3 concentrations. However, fire emissions of ozone precursors increase photochemical ozone production, particularly in the Thailand wildfire plume. Analysis shows that the Kazakhstan plume is responsible for increases of O3 and CO mixing ratios up to 6.4 ppbv and 38 ppbv in the lower troposphere, and the Thailand plume is responsible for increases of O3 and CO mixing ratios up to 11 ppbv and 71 ppbv in the upper troposphere.
Citation: Dupont, R., Pierce, B., Worden, J., Hair, J., Fenn, M., Hamer, P., Natarajan, M., Schaack, T., Lenzen, A., Apel, E., Dibb, J., Diskin, G., Huey, G., Weinheimer, A., and Knapp, D.: Reconstructing ozone chemistry from Asian wild fires using models, satellite and aircraft measurements during the ARCTAS campaign, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 10, 26751-26812, doi:10.5194/acpd-10-26751-2010, 2010.