Wildland fire smoke emissions are increasingly a concern in the western U.S. and other regions globally. Feedbacks between climate, fire, smoke, and air quality are a key concern as warming and drying climatic trends are an important intersection of wildland fire. We conducted laboratory measurements of fresh emissions of biomass burning smoke with a focus on biomass fuels from native and invasive species of the southwestern US region. The fuels combusted included selected coniferous, deciduous, and grass species including invasives such as cheat grass and salt cedar, all selected from north-central New Mexico. We expanded these efforts to examine the linkage between fuels, soils and smoke as well. In laboratory experiments we measured a suite of aerosol properties with a particular focus on optical-hygroscopic properties. Optical-hygroscopic properties were measured with a humidity controlled nephelometry system, and a newly humidified cavity-assisted phase shift instrument. The latter instrument is a new instrument that provides in-situ measurements of aerosol light extinction and light scattering, allowing retrieval of aerosol light absorption and single scattering albedo as well. Efforts to date to develop and characterize this instrument including truncation errors will be summarized. The presentation will discuss key findings and present specific results on the detailed physical properties of smoke aerosols and their significance with these instruments and ancillary measurements. Alteration of fuel regimes and properties in the southwestern US have important implications for smoke emissions and resulting impacts on climate and air quality.
展开▼
