DEVELOPMENT OF WILDLAND FIRE EMISSION INVENTORIES WITH THE BLUESKY SMOKE MODELING FRAMEWORK

Globally, wildland fire (wildfire and prescribed burning of forests and rangelands) contributes significantly to atmospheric pollution. Pollutants emitted from fires include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and acrolein (a regulated hazardous air pollutant [HAP]) (Andreae and Merlet, 2001). In the United States, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 22% of the primary emissions of non-dust particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) came from nonresidential fires in 2001 (970,000 tons, source: AirData web site, http://www.epa.gov/air/data/). Exposure to wildfire smoke has been associated with increased eye and respiratory symptoms, medication use, physician visits, and exacerbated asthma (Kuenzli et al., 2006). Emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from fires contribute to ozone formation in the troposphere (the key component of photochemical smog). Estimates of the magnitude of tropospheric ozone from biomass burning range from less than 15% to 40% of the global total (Levine et al., 1995; Galanter et al., 2000). Carbon particles from fires also contribute to climate forcing, both directly by increasing atmospheric reflectance, and indirectly by influencing the formation of clouds (Kaufman and Fraser, 1997). Accurately modeling wildland fire emissions requires many pieces of information, including fire location, ignition time and growth rate, fire intensity, and final size. This information is needed at a daily or better temporal resolution to be useful for air quality modeling of smoke impacts.