The effect of filter storage conditions on degradation of organic Aerosols

We investigated the light-absorption properties of brown carbon (BrC) as part of the Georgia Wildland-Fire Simulation Experiment. We constructed fuel beds representative of three ecoregions in the Southeastern U.S. and varied the fuelbed moisture content to simulate either prescribed fires or drought-induced wildfires. Based on decreasing fire radiative energy normalized by fuel-bed mass loading (FRE norm ), the combustion conditions were grouped into wildfire (Wild), prescribed fire (Rx), and wildfire involving duff ignition (Wild-Duff). The emitted BrC ranged from weakly absorbing (WildDuff) to moderately absorbing (Rx and Wild) with the imaginary part of the refractive index (k) values that were well-correlated with FRE norm . We apportioned the BrC into water-soluble (WSBrC) and water-insoluble (WIBrC). Approximately half of the WSBrC molecules detected using electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry were potential chromophores. Nevertheless, k of WSBrC was an order of magnitude smaller than k of WIBrC. Furthermore, k of WIBrC was well-correlated with FRE norm while k of WSBrC was not, suggesting different formation pathways between WIBrC and WSBrC. Overall, the results signify the importance of combustion conditions in determining BrC lightabsorption properties and indicate that variables in wildland fires, such as moisture content and fuel-bed composition, impact BrC light-absorption properties to the extent that they influence combustion conditions.

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Optical Properties of Biomass Burning Aerosols from Simulated Wildfires and Prescribed Fires with Representative Fuel Beds from the Southeast United States

McQueen,

Poland,

Glenn

et al. 2024

ACS EST Air

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We report measurements of the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) of biomass burning aerosol from the combustion of fuel beds representing three eco-regions of the Southeast U.S. (Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Blue Ridge Mountains) with moisture content representative of wildfires and prescribed fires. We find a strong correlation between the AAE and SSA for both simulated wildfires (low fuel moisture) and prescribed fires (higher fuel moisture). For wildfires, the AAE and SSA are strongly dependent on the eco-region of the fuel bed and span a much wider range (AAE = 1.3–4.2, SSA = 0.75–0.97) than they do for prescribed fires (AAE = 2.4–3.1, SSA = 0.88–0.96). The AAE and SSA are also found to be correlated with the fraction of total carbon that is elemental carbon (f EC) for both wildfires and prescribed fires, but the range of f EC observed (0.02–0.14) from the fuel beds is much smaller than that reported previously from laboratory studies using individual fuels. The observations from the present study suggest that fuel-bed composition and moisture content are significant factors in determining the relative amount of organic material in biomass burning aerosols and, consequentially, their optical properties.

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The effect of filter storage conditions on degradation of organic Aerosols

Cited by 3 publications

References 67 publications

Positive matrix factorization of seasonally resolved organic aerosol at three different central European background sites based on nuclear magnetic resonance Aerosolomics data

Positive matrix factorization of seasonally resolved organic aerosol at three different central European background sites based on nuclear magnetic resonance Aerosolomics data

Brown Carbon Emissions from Biomass Burning under Simulated Wildfire and Prescribed-Fire Conditions

Optical Properties of Biomass Burning Aerosols from Simulated Wildfires and Prescribed Fires with Representative Fuel Beds from the Southeast United States

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