Characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols emitted from peatland fire in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia (2): Identification of organic compounds

Abstract

Smoke emitted from Indonesian peatland fires has caused dense haze and serious air pollution in Southeast Asia such as visibility impairment and adverse health impacts. To mitigate the Indonesian peatland fire aerosol impacts, an effective strategy and international framework based on the latest scientific knowledge needs to be established. Although several attempts have been made, limited data exist regarding the chemical characteristics of peatland fire smoke for the source apportionment. In order to identify the key organic compounds of peatland fire aerosols, we conducted intensive field studies based on ground-based and source-dominated sampling of PM2.5 in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, during the peatland fire seasons in 2012. Levoglucosan was the most abundant compound among the quantified organic compounds at 8.98 ± 2.28% of the PM2.5 mass, followed by palmitic acid at 0.782 ± 0.163% and mannosan at 0.607 ± 0.0861%. Potassium ion was not appropriate for an indicator of Indonesian peatland fires due to extremely low concentrations associated with smoldering fire at low temperatures. The vanillic/syringic acids ratio was 1.06 ± 0.155 in this study and this may be a useful signature profile for peatland fire emissions. Particulate n-alkanes also have potential for markers to identify impact of Indonesian peatland fire source at a receptor site.

Quantitative assessment of source contributions to PM2.5 on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia to determine the burden of Indonesian peatland fire

“…The PMF calculation requires the sample species concentrations and their associated uncertainties as inputs. In this study, the chemical species in the PMF calculation were OC−OP (= OC1 + OC2 + OC3 + OC4), OP, C2O4 2-, Cl -, NO3 -, SO4 2-, Na + , NH4 + , K + , Ca 2+ , levoglucosan, mannosan, galactosan, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, n-alkanes (C22 (docosane)-C33 (tritriacontane)), Al, Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and V. Referring to previous studies, the indicators of the IPF source factor were selected as OP, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and C25-C33 (Fujii et al, 2016a(Fujii et al, , 2015a(Fujii et al, , 2015b. Two input data sets were constructed as follows.…”

“…Dense smoke haze from Indonesian peatland fires (IPFs) causes impacts on health, visibility, transport and regional climate in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore (Betha et al, 2014Engling et al, 2014;Fujii et al, 2016aFujii et al, , 2015aFujii et al, , 2015bFujii et al, , 2014Harrison et al, 2009;He et al, 2010;Page et al, 2002;See et al, 2007See et al, , 2006Tacconi, 2003). PM2.5 is the main constituent of the smoke haze that is chiefly responsible for adverse health and environmental effects (See et al, 2006).…”

“…PM2.5 is the main constituent of the smoke haze that is chiefly responsible for adverse health and environmental effects (See et al, 2006). Chemical characterizations of IPF-induced smoke aerosols including PM2.5 have been conducted to investigate the contribution of IPFs to the air quality in Southeast Asia (SEA) or identify the key indicator of IPF in transboundary pollution countries or near fire sources (Abas et al, 2004a(Abas et al, , 2004bFang et al, 1999;Fujii et al, 2016aFujii et al, , 2015aFujii et al, , 2015bFujii et al, , 2014Huboyo et al, 2016;Okuda et al, 2002;See et al, 2007).…”

Statistical aerosol properties associated with fire events from 2002 to 2019 and a case analysis in 2019 over Australia

“…son, 2014). Aerosols such as biomass-burning aerosols and dust aerosols not only warm the atmosphere and cool the Earth's surface by reducing sunlight through absorption and scattering but also modify cloud microphysical properties by acting as cloud-condensation nuclei or ice nuclei (Garrett and Zhao, 2006;Wang et al, 2013;Fujii et al, 2015;Zhao and Garrett, 2015;Grandey et al, 2016;Jiang et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2019). Moreover, biomass-burning aerosols can cause environmental pollution and thus affect public health (Crippa et al, 2016;He et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2018;Zhu et al,2018;Rooney et al, 2020).…”

Statistical aerosol properties associated with fire events from 2002 to 2019 along with a case analysis in 2019 over Australia

“…Biomass burning aerosols can not only warm the atmosphere and cool the Earth's surface by reducing sunlight through absorption and scattering, but also can modify cloud microphysical properties by acting as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei (Garrett and Zhao, 2006;Ramanathan and Carmichael, 2008;Fujii et al, 2015;Zhao and Garrett, 2015;Grandey et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2019). Moreover, biomass burning aerosol can cause environmental 45 pollution and thus affect public health (Crippa et al, 2016;He et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2018).…”