Identification

Title

Characterization of intra-continental smoke transport and impact on New York State air quality using aerosol reanalysis and multi-platform observations

Abstract

Smoke aerosols emitted by wildfires can ascend to the free troposphere, travel over long distances and descend to affect local air quality (AQ) in downwind areas. This study investigates the AQ impact of long-range transported (LRT) smoke aerosols from western North America during summer 2017 in New York State (NYS) using observations and numerical products. Analysis of total fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon measurements at Queens and Buffalo shows that about 38% and 43% of the polluted events are related to the LRT smoke aerosols, respectively. Two LRT smoke events transported from the Pacific Northwest to NYS on Sep. 5 and 16, 2017, are analyzed. The transport path is determined by the large-scale flow (positive tilted trough for the 1st case and stationary front for the 2nd case). During both events, smoke aerosols were entrained into the boundary layer during the growth of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and accumulated near surface when the PBL collapsed. The enhanced aerosol mass is primarily due to carbonaceous and secondary sulfate aerosols. Although the two events differed in aerosol loadings (150 versus 80 mu gm(-2) for column mass density), weather conditions (cold front passage versus high-pressure system), and entrainment rates (6 versus 12 cm s(-1)), the AQ impacts were comparable for two events (about 10 mu g m(-3) increase of total PM2.5). Our study of two smoke cases indicates that the LRT smoke events even with moderate intensity would degrade local AQ if the underlying meteorological conditions are favorable for downward mixing.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7jw8jpp

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2021-03-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact