Investigation Of CO, C 2 H 6 And Aerosols In A Boreal Fire Plume Over ...

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Articles | Volume 13, issue 20 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10227-2013 © Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Special issue:

• Quantifying the impact of Boreal fires on tropospheric oxidants...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10227-2013 © Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Articles | Volume 13, issue 20

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Research article | 18 Oct 2013 Research article | | 18 Oct 2013 Investigation of CO, C2H6 and aerosols in a boreal fire plume over eastern Canada during BORTAS 2011 using ground- and satellite-based observations and model simulations D. Griffin, K. A. Walker, J. E. Franklin, M. Parrington, C. Whaley, J. Hopper, J. R. Drummond, P. I. Palmer, K. Strong, T. J. Duck, I. Abboud, P. F. Bernath, C. Clerbaux, P.-F. Coheur, K. R. Curry, L. Dan, E. Hyer, J. Kliever, G. Lesins, M. Maurice, A. Saha, K. Tereszchuk, and D. Weaver

D. Griffin

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

K. A. Walker

× Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

J. E. Franklin

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

M. Parrington

× School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JN, UK now at: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Shinfield Park, Reading, RG2 9AX, UK

C. Whaley

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

J. Hopper

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

J. R. Drummond

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

P. I. Palmer

× School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JN, UK

K. Strong

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

T. J. Duck

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

I. Abboud

× AEROCAN, Environment Canada, Egbert, Ontario L0L 1N0, Canada

P. F. Bernath

× Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529, USA

C. Clerbaux

× Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Université Versailles St.-Quentin, CNRS/INSU, LATMOS-IPSL, Paris, France

P.-F. Coheur

× Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

K. R. Curry

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

L. Dan

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

E. Hyer

× Marine Meteorology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, California 93943, USA

J. Kliever

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

G. Lesins

× Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Z9, Canada

M. Maurice

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

A. Saha

× CARTEL, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500, boulevard de l'Université, Sherbrooke, Québec J1K 2R1, Canada

K. Tereszchuk

× Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK

D. Weaver

× Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

Abstract. We present the results of total column measurements of CO, C2H6 and fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AOD) during the "Quantifying the impact of BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants over the Atlantic using Aircraft and Satellites" (BORTAS-B) campaign over eastern Canada. Ground-based observations, using Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs) and sun photometers, were carried out in July and August 2011. These measurements were taken in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is an ideal location to monitor the outflow of boreal fires from North America, and also in Toronto, Ontario. Measurements of fine-mode AOD enhancements were highly correlated with enhancements in coincident trace gas (CO and C2H6) observations between 19 and 21 July 2011, which is typical for a smoke plume event. In this paper, we focus on the identification of the origin and the transport of this smoke plume. We use back trajectories calculated by the Canadian Meteorological Centre as well as FLEXPART forward trajectories to demonstrate that the enhanced CO, C2H6 and fine-mode AOD seen near Halifax and Toronto originated from forest fires in northwestern Ontario that occurred between 17 and 19 July 2011. In addition, total column measurements of CO from the satellite-borne Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) have been used to trace the smoke plume and to confirm the origin of the CO enhancement. Furthermore, the enhancement ratio – that is, in this case equivalent to the emission ratio (ERC2H6/CO) – was estimated from these ground-based observations. These C2H6 emission results from boreal fires in northwestern Ontario agree well with C2H6 emission measurements from other boreal regions, and are relatively high compared to fires from other geographical regions. The ground-based CO and C2H6 observations were compared with outputs from the 3-D global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem, using the Fire Locating And Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) inventory. Agreement within the stated measurement uncertainty (~3% for CO and ~8% for C2H6) was found for the magnitude of the enhancement of the CO and C2H6 total columns between the measured and modelled results. However, there is a small shift in time (of approximately 6 h) of arrival of the plume over Halifax between the results.

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Share How to cite. Griffin, D., Walker, K. A., Franklin, J. E., Parrington, M., Whaley, C., Hopper, J., Drummond, J. R., Palmer, P. I., Strong, K., Duck, T. J., Abboud, I., Bernath, P. F., Clerbaux, C., Coheur, P.-F., Curry, K. R., Dan, L., Hyer, E., Kliever, J., Lesins, G., Maurice, M., Saha, A., Tereszchuk, K., and Weaver, D.: Investigation of CO, C2H6 and aerosols in a boreal fire plume over eastern Canada during BORTAS 2011 using ground- and satellite-based observations and model simulations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10227–10241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10227-2013, 2013. Received: 28 Mar 2013 – Discussion started: 24 Apr 2013 – Revised: 19 Aug 2013 – Accepted: 27 Aug 2013 – Published: 23 Oct 2013 Download

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