Contrasting Stratospheric Smoke Mass and Lifetime From 2017 Canadian and 2019/2020 Australian Megafires: Global Simulations and Satellite Observations

D’Angelo, Gennaro; Guimond, Stephen R.; Reisner, Jon; Peterson, David A.; Dubey, Manvendra K.

doi:10.1029/2021jd036249

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…In extreme cases, deep pyro-convection may inject aerosols directly into the stratosphere 35 , 36 , producing a stratospheric aerosol mass that is comparable to a moderate volcanic eruption 37 . Injection of wildfire emitted aerosols above the tropopause is linked to positive top-of-the-atmosphere radiative forcing at the hemispheric scale 38 , reductions in surface temperature 39 , 40 , reductions in stratospheric ozone 41 , and disruptions of atmospheric circulations in the lower stratosphere 42 , 43 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire plumes in the Western US are reaching greater heights and injecting more aerosols aloft as wildfire activity intensifies

Wilmot

Mallia

Hallar

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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By producing a first-of-its-kind, decadal-scale wildfire plume rise climatology in the Western U.S. and Canada, we identify trends toward enhanced plume top heights, aerosol loading aloft, and near-surface smoke injection throughout the American West. Positive and significant plume trends suggest a growing impact of Western US wildfires on air quality at the local to continental scales and support the notion that wildfires may have an increasing impact on regional climate. Overlap of identified trends with regions of increasing wildfire emissions and burn severity suggests a link to climate driven trends toward enhanced wildfire activity. Further, time series of plume activity point to a possible acceleration of trends over recent years, such that the future impacts to air quality and regional climate may exceed those suggested by a linear fit to the multi-decadal data. These findings have significant implications for human health and exacerbate concern for the climate–wildfire connection.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire plumes in the Western US are reaching greater heights and injecting more aerosols aloft as wildfire activity intensifies

Wilmot

Mallia

Hallar

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…Based on climate modeling studies of the BC17 event (D’Angelo et al., 2022; Torres et al., 2020), estimated BC mass is 1%–2.5% of the total aerosol mass with higher percentages leading to significantly higher rises in the stratosphere than supported by observations. Figure 14 illustrates that for the mixed simulation the BC percentages are considerably higher than supported by observations; however, with the addition of other aerosols BC percentages start to approach observed amounts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informed Multi‐Scale Approach Applied to the British Columbia Fires of Late Summer 2017

et al. 2023

Self Cite

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In the late summer of 2017, fires blazed across interior British Columbia (BC17) creating a provincial state of emergency and causing significant loss of habitat and millions of dollars of damage. Although the effects of these fires were undoubtedly felt most strongly by the Province of British Columbia along with surrounding provinces and states, effects of these fires were also felt over the entire Northern Hemisphere. This large-scale impact was caused in large part by the formation of pyrocumulonimbus (PyroCb) clouds on 12-13 August. These PyroCb clouds injected an estimated 0.1-0.35 Tg of particulate matter (PM) into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (

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“…Based on climate modeling studies of the BC17 event (D'Angelo et al, 2022), estimated BC mass is 1-2 percent of the total aerosol mass with higher percentages leading to significantly higher rises in the stratosphere than supported by observations. Figure 11 illustrates that for the mixed simulation the BC percentages are considerably higher than supported by observations; however, with the addition of other aerosols BC percentages approach observed amounts.…”

Section: Black Carbon Estimationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Informed Multi-scale Approach Applied to the British Columbia Fires of Late Summer 2017

Reisner

Josephson

Gorkowski

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Pyrocumulonimbus clouds have a complex origin depending on fire dynamics and meteorological conditions. When a pyrocumulonimbus (PyroCb) cloud formation develops and is maintained over a period of time, it can inject significant aerosol into the troposphere and lower stratosphere, resulting in longer term (months to years) climate cooling effects. In this work we investigate the British Columbia and northern Washington wildfires on August 12-13, 2017 using a multi-scale simulation framework. We use the output of a physics based wildfire model (FIRETEC) with parameterized energy, particle, and gas emissions to drive the upper atmospheric aerosol mass injection within a regional cloud resolving model (HIGRAD). We demonstrate that vertical motions produced by latent heat release of the condensation of ice and cloud particles within the PyroCbs induce another 5 km of lifting of the simulated aerosol plume. Primary black carbon and organic aerosols alone may not be enough to explain the observed aerosol burden, thus we show that dust and ash particles can enhance lofted aerosol mass. Additionally, we show that semi volatile organic gases emitted by the fires eventually condense, further increasing the aerosol burden. A simulation with all aerosol mechanisms active, driven by the observed fuel load and environmental conditions, reasonably reproduces an aerosol profile inferred from observational data.

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Contrasting Stratospheric Smoke Mass and Lifetime From 2017 Canadian and 2019/2020 Australian Megafires: Global Simulations and Satellite Observations

Abstract: Pyrocumulonimbus clouds (pyroCb, Fromm & Servranckx, 2003) generated by intense wildfires ("megafires") are known to inject large amounts of smoke particulate species in the atmosphere, often well above the troposphere (e.g.

Cited by 17 publications

References 107 publications

Wildfire plumes in the Western US are reaching greater heights and injecting more aerosols aloft as wildfire activity intensifies

Wildfire plumes in the Western US are reaching greater heights and injecting more aerosols aloft as wildfire activity intensifies

Informed Multi‐Scale Approach Applied to the British Columbia Fires of Late Summer 2017

Informed Multi-scale Approach Applied to the British Columbia Fires of Late Summer 2017

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