Impact of the 1998 Central American fires on PM2.5 mass and composition in the southeastern United States

Tanner, Roger L.; Parkhurst, William J.; Valente, Myra L.; Humes, K. Lynn; Jones, K.; Gilbert, Jeff J.

doi:10.1016/s1352-2310(01)00275-8

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results suggest a 22.5% increase of PM 2.5 for New Orleans, Louisiana, which is in line with a 29% enhancement from Wang et al () for a transport case to Louisiana in 2003. Tanner et al () analyzed another case for Mar‐May 1998 and showed 386% and 181% increases of mean PM 2.5 over Tennessee and Arkansas due to transport of fire emissions from Central America, which is much higher than our estimation of 22%–43% average PM 2.5 enhancements for the Gulf Coast cities. This difference may be explained by the fact that fires in 1998 were the largest and abnormal event in record which was not included in our study period.…”

Section: Impact Of Central American Fires On Air Quality Along the Gucontrasting

confidence: 65%

“…These large‐scale circulation patterns place the U.S. Gulf Coast directly downwind of Mexico and Central America, and thus subject to transport of pollutants originating there. After arriving over the Gulf Coast, the fire plumes can be further transported to the southern Great Plains or the southeastern United States (Logan et al, ; Peppler et al, ; Tanner et al, ). Wang et al () discussed other meteorological features facilitating the transport.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5

Wang

Estes

et al. 2018

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fire emissions from Mexico and Central America are transported regularly to the U.S. Gulf Coast every spring under prevailing circulation patterns and affect U.S. air quality. Here we use a GEOS-Chem passive tracer simulation to develop the climatology of transport pathways of fire emissions over a long-term time period of April and May 2002-2015 and estimate their adverse air quality effects for urban areas along the Gulf Coast. A conceptual model is presented to describe the transport mechanisms, which involve southerly low-level jets in the lower troposphere and warm conveyor belt in the middle troposphere. The warm conveyor belts and the southerly low-level jets explain 31% and 69% of the interannual variability of the mid-altitude (1.5-6 km) and low-altitude events (0-1.5 km), respectively. Considering both transport and fire emissions, approximately 9% of the study period (59-88 days of 854 days) were identified as large pollution events during which Central American fire emissions adversely impacted surface air quality at several major urban centers along the Gulf Coast, including Houston and Corpus Christi in TX, New Orleans in LA, Mobile in AL, and Pensacola in FL. Compared to clean maritime flow from the Gulf of Mexico, these events were estimated to result in average enhancements of maximum daily average 8-hr (MDA8) ozone and daily PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter <2.5 μm in diameter) in the Gulf Coast cities of 3-12 ppbv and 2-5 μg/m 3 , respectively. Only one ozone exceedance day (79 ppbv, on 18 May 2003) was found among the fire-impact days for the Houston region.

show abstract

Section: Impact Of Central American Fires On Air Quality Along the Gucontrasting

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5

Wang

Estes

et al. 2018

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nonsoil potassium in smoke particles is another indicator of biomass burning aerosols [ Kreidenweis et al , 2001]. Tanner et al [2001] showed that during Central American fire events in May 1998, the K concentration in the SEUS exceeded 300% of normal mean value. However, the sources of K in the atmosphere include not only smoke but also soil.…”

Section: Data and Area Of Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesoscale modeling of Central American smoke transport to the United States: 1. “Top‐down” assessment of emission strength and diurnal variation impacts

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] As is typical in the Northern Hemisphere spring, during 20 April to 21 May 2003, significant biomass burning smoke from Central America was transported to the southeastern United States (SEUS). A coupled aerosol, radiation, and meteorology model that is built upon the heritage of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), having newly developed capabilities of Assimilation and Radiation Online Modeling of Aerosols (AROMA) algorithm, was used to simulate the smoke transport and quantify the smoke radiative impacts on surface energetics, boundary layer, and other atmospheric processes. This paper, the first of a two-part series, describes the model and examines the ability of RAMS-AROMA to simulate the smoke transport. Because biomass-burning fire activities have distinct diurnal variations, the FLAMBE hourly smoke emission inventory that is derived from the geostationary satellite (GOES) fire products was assimilated into the model. In the ''top-down'' analysis, ground-based observations were used to evaluate the model performance, and the comparisons with model-simulated results were used to estimate emission uncertainties. Qualitatively, a 30-day simulation of smoke spatial distribution as well as the timing and location of the smoke fronts are consistent with those identified from the PM 2.5 observation network, local air quality reports, and the measurements of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and aerosol vertical profiles from the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) site in Oklahoma. Quantitatively, the model-simulated daily mean near-surface dry smoke mass correlates well with PM 2.5 mass at 34 locations in Texas and with the total carbon mass and nonsoil potassium mass (KNON) at three IMPROVE sites along the smoke pathway (with linear correlation coefficients R = 0.77, 0.74, and 0.69 at the significance level larger than 0.99, respectively). The top-down sensitivity analysis indicates that the total smoke particle emission during the study period is about 1.3 ± 0.2 Tg. The results further indicate that the simulation with a daily smoke emission inventory provides a slightly better correlation with measurements in the downwind region on daily scales but gives an unrealistic diurnal variation of AOT in the smoke source region. This study suggests that the assimilation of emission inventories from geostationary satellites is superior to that of polar orbiting satellites and has important implications for the modeling of air quality in areas influenced by fire-related pollutants from distant sources.

show abstract

“…Large forest fires in Canada were observed to impact air quality in the United States (68), including a smoke plume from wildfires in Quebec, Canada, measured as far south as Virginia (69). Fires in Mexico and Guatemala were also found to impact air quality in the United States (70,71), and smoke from Central American and southern Mexican forest fires was captured in satellite images traveling across the United States and into Canada ( Figure 6). During this air pollution event, visibility in many Texas cities was less than one mile (72).…”

Section: Particulate Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Atmospheric Pollution and Transboundary Air Quality Management

Bergin

West

Keating

et al. 2005

Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The regional nature of several important air pollutants, which include acids, ozone, particulate matter, mercury, and persistent organics (POPs), is widely recognized by researchers and decision makers. Such pollutants are transported regionally over scales from about 100 to a few 1000s of kilometers, large enough to cross state, provincial, national, and even continental boundaries. Managing these regional pollutants requires overcoming political, economic, and cultural differences to establish cooperation between multiple jurisdictions, and it requires recognition of the linkages between pollutants and of impacts at different geographic scales. Here, regional dynamics of the pollutants are discussed, addressing them individually and as a tightly linked physical and chemical system. Collaborative efforts to characterize and manage regional pollution are presented, along with potential directions for future efforts.

show abstract

Impact of the 1998 Central American fires on PM2.5 mass and composition in the southeastern United States

Cited by 21 publications

References 7 publications

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5

Mesoscale modeling of Central American smoke transport to the United States: 1. “Top‐down” assessment of emission strength and diurnal variation impacts

Regional Atmospheric Pollution and Transboundary Air Quality Management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Impact of the 1998 Central American fires on PM2.5 mass and composition in the southeastern United States

Cited by 21 publications

References 7 publications

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM2.5

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM2.5

Mesoscale modeling of Central American smoke transport to the United States: 1. “Top‐down” assessment of emission strength and diurnal variation impacts

Regional Atmospheric Pollution and Transboundary Air Quality Management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5

Transport of Central American Fire Emissions to the U.S. Gulf Coast: Climatological Pathways and Impacts on Ozone and PM_2.5