Forest-fire aerosol–weather feedbacks over western North America using a high-resolution, online coupled air-quality model

• Published in: Atmospheric chemistry and physics Vol. 21; no. 13; pp. 10557 - 10587
• Main Authors: Makar, Paul A, Akingunola, Ayodeji, Chen, Jack, Pabla, Balbir, Gong, Wanmin, Stroud, Craig, Sioris, Christopher, Anderson, Kerry, Cheung, Philip, Zhang, Junhua, Milbrandt, Jason
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 14-07-2021; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Accuracy; Aerosol optical properties; Aerosols; Air; Air pollution; Air quality; Air quality forecasting; Air quality models; Airborne particulates; Analysis; Anthropogenic factors; Atmospheric aerosols; Bias; Biomass; Canada; Cell size; Climate change; Cloud condensation nuclei; Cloud droplets; Clouds; Condensation nuclei; Confidence intervals; Domains; Droplets; Emissions; Ensemble forecasting; Feedback; Feedback loops; Fire plumes; Forest & brush fires; Forest fires; Forest management; Forests; High resolution; Horizontal cells; Human influences; Internet; Lower troposphere; Mathematical models; Meteorology; Nitrogen dioxide; Optical properties; Particulate matter; Plume dispersion; Plumes; Precipitation; Radiation; Raindrops; Resolution; Simulation; Smoke; Smoke plumes; Stability; Statistical analysis; Surface temperature; Troposphere; Weather; Weather forecasting; Canada; California; United States > US; North America; Europe
• ISSN: 1680-7324; 1680-7316; 1680-7324
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-10557-2021

The influence of both anthropogenic and forest-fire emissions, and their subsequent chemical and physical processing, on the accuracy of weather and air-quality forecasts, was studied using a high-resolution, online coupled air-quality model. Simulations were carried out for the period 4 July through 5 August 2019, at 2.5 km horizontal grid cell size, over a 2250x3425 km.sup.2 domain covering western Canada and USA, prior to the use of the forecast system as part of the FIREX-AQ ensemble forecast. Several large forest fires took place in the Canadian portion of the domain during the study period. A feature of the implementation was the incorporation of a new online version of the Canadian Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System (CFFEPSv4.0). This inclusion of thermodynamic forest-fire plume-rise calculations directly into the online air-quality model allowed us to simulate the interactions between forest-fire plume development and weather.