Project summary

Tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide pollution in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is commonly thought to be of anthropogenic origin. While this is true in most cases, the impact of boreal (high-latitude) fires during large-fire years was shown to be comparable to impact from urban and industrial sources. The distinctive feature of boreal fires is strong dependence on weather conditions. Studying the impact of forest fires on the chemical environment is critical, especially since modeling of potential future fire activity predicts the increase in magnitude, frequency and severity of such fires in response to global warming.

Pollutants emitted by forest fires can be transported in dense plumes thousands of kilometers away and impact air quality of the remote regions. The analysis of the chemical and transport processes for aged fire plumes in remote locations adds to understanding of the potential magnitude of the effect of boreal forest fires on atmospheric composition of the Northern Hemisphere. Satellite data, transport modeling and ground measurements of key atmospheric species are widely used to assist this analysis. PICO-NARE is a measurement station at a mountaintop site in the Azores Islands established in 2001. Previous data analysis showed that PICO-NARE observatory is frequently located in the corridor of forest fire pollution outflow.

In my work, I combine observations made at PICO-NARE station with satellite images and transport modeling to determine the scale of forest fire impact in terms of ozone, CO and other chemical species at this remote site. The analysis of the chemical and transport processes for such plumes will help to assess the overall impact of forest fires on the chemical environment, not only in this remote North Atlantic region, but also in the Northern Hemisphere in general.