Wildfire activity is driving summertime air quality degradation across the western US: a model-based attribution to smoke source regions

Wilmot, Taylor Y.; Mallia, Derek V.; Hallar, A. Gannet; Lin, John C.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac9a5d

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…5 . Recent research has used other simplified Lagrangian particle transport models ( 41 ) to produce back trajectories of simulated air parcels arriving at specific locations and provide estimates of PM 2 . 5 from wildfire smoke.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying fire-specific smoke exposure and health impacts

Wen,

Heft-Neal,

Baylis

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Rapidly changing wildfire regimes across the Western United States have driven more frequent and severe wildfires, resulting in wide-ranging societal threats from wildfires and wildfire-generated smoke. However, common measures of fire severity focus on what is burned, disregarding the societal impacts of smoke generated from each fire. We combine satellite-derived fire scars, air parcel trajectories from individual fires, and predicted smoke PM 2 . 5 to link source fires to resulting smoke PM 2 . 5 and health impacts experienced by populations in the contiguous United States from April 2006 to 2020. We quantify fire-specific accumulated smoke exposure based on the cumulative population exposed to smoke PM 2 . 5 over the duration of a fire and estimate excess asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits as a result of this exposure. We find that excess asthma visits attributable to each fire are only moderately correlated with common measures of wildfire severity, including burned area, structures destroyed, and suppression cost. Additionally, while recent California fires contributed nearly half of the country’s smoke-related excess asthma ED visits during our study period, the most severe individual fire was the 2007 Bugaboo fire in the Southeast. We estimate that a majority of smoke PM 2 . 5 comes from sources outside the local jurisdictions where the smoke is experienced, with 87% coming from fires in other counties and 60% from fires in other states. Our approach could enable broad-scale assessment of whether specific fire characteristics affect smoke toxicity or impact, inform cost-effectiveness assessments for allocation of suppression resources, and help clarify the growing transboundary nature of local air quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying fire-specific smoke exposure and health impacts

Wen,

Heft-Neal,

Baylis

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…These precursors include fluorotelomer alcohols, which oxidatively degrade in the atmosphere to yield PFOA and have been, and continue to be, used extensively in the industry for various purposes, from stain repellents to firefighting foams. Heat waves, wildfires, and photochemical processes may impact summertime air quality [41][42][43] and are currently of great concern because significant gaps in knowledge are present. As a result of the present study, we suggest that, in addition to what is mentioned above, the elevated concentrations of PFAS may also contribute to lowering the air quality in the summertime.…”

Section: Pfas Daily and Seasonal Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFASs) in PM10 Samples: Analytical Method, Seasonal Trends, and Implications for Urban Air Quality in the City of Terni (Central Italy)

Moretti,

Castellini,

Barola

et al. 2024

Separations

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A quantitative analytical method for PFAS determination in airborne particulate matter (PM) has been developed using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), allowing for the determination of 33 compounds. The procedure was applied to ambient PM10 with limits of quantification for PFAS in the fg m−3 range. PM10 samples collected during a year-long campaign conducted in an urban site in Umbria (Central Italy) have been characterized for their PFAS content. Among the seven detected PFASs, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were the most abundant compounds. Furthermore, this work allowed us to obtain the first seasonal trend of airborne PFASs in Central Italy. Seasonal trend analysis shows that PFAS concentration in the atmosphere peaks in summertime. A comparison with trends of other relevant primary and secondary air pollutants determined at the sampling site suggests a secondary nature of the observed PFAS, which are formed in the atmosphere directly from gaseous precursors and can contribute to worsen the urban air quality in summertime.

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“…Although no long-term studies have characterized intermittent and variable PM 2.5 trends produced by wild re in their exposure estimates, new models of daily wild re PM 2.5 exposure make calculating alternative metrics possible (10,(30)(31)(32). Between 2016-2020, an annual average of 16.4 million Americans lived in places where wild re PM 2.5 exceeded 50 μg/m 3 on at least one day (10).…”

Section: Introduction Page 3/23mentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

JA¹,

MA²,

Padula³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Introduction: While considered extreme events, wildfires will lengthen and strengthen in a changing climate, becoming an omnipresent climate-sensitive exposure. However, few studies consider long-term exposure to wildfire fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Here, we present a conceptual model to assess long-term wildfire PM2.5 exposure and evaluate disproportionate exposures among marginalized communities. Methods: We used 2006-2020 California census tract-level daily wildfire PM2.5 concentrations generated from monitoring data and statistical techniques to derive five long-term wildfire PM2.5 measures. We classified tracts based on their CalEnviroScreen (CES) score, a composite measure of environmental and social vulnerability burdens, and their racial/ethnic composition. We determined associations of (a) CES score and (b) racial/ethnic composition with the five wildfire PM2.5 measures using separate mixed-effects models accounting for year and population density. To assess differences by year, models included CES or race/ethnicityyear interaction terms. Results: We conceptualized and compared five annual wildfire PM2.5 exposure measures to characterize intermittent and extreme exposure over long-term periods: (1) weeks with wildfire PM2.5 >5μg/m3; (2) days with non-zero wildfire PM2.5; (3) mean wildfire PM2.5 during peak exposure week; (4) smoke-waves (2 consecutive days with 25μg/m3 wildfire PM2.5); (5) annual mean wildfire PM2.5 concentration. Within individual years, we observed exposure disparities, but generally did not when averaging over the study period. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native populations, however, were consistently over-represented among the exposed population compared to their California-wide representation. Conclusion: We found that wildfire PM2.5, measured via five metrics, disproportionately affected persistently marginalized California communities—with substantial year-to-year variability.

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Wildfire activity is driving summertime air quality degradation across the western US: a model-based attribution to smoke source regions

Cited by 5 publications

References 48 publications

Quantifying fire-specific smoke exposure and health impacts

Quantifying fire-specific smoke exposure and health impacts

Determination of Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFASs) in PM10 Samples: Analytical Method, Seasonal Trends, and Implications for Urban Air Quality in the City of Terni (Central Italy)

Measuring Long-Term Exposure to Wildfire PM2.5 in California: Time-Varying Inequities in Environmental Burden

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