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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 28, NO. 12, PAGES 2413–2416, 2001

The Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide Ratios Observed in Emissions from a Wildfire in Northern California

Timothy J. Lueker

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla


Ralph F. Keeling

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla


Manvendra K. Dubey

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos


Abstract

At Trinidad, California we observed elevated CO2 concentrations and concomitant lowered O2 levels coincident with forest fires 70 km distant (from 10/8/99 to 10/21/99). The precision of our O2 data, ± 1 µmol O2 /mol dry air, revealed the reduction of atmospheric oxygen resulting from the combustion of biomass, and the stoichiometric ratios (−O2/CO2) of the wildfire emissions. Estimates of daily −O2/CO2 ratios were obtained by regression of CO2 against corresponding O2 data (R² 0.86 to 0.96). Daily −O2/CO2 ratios changed from 1.15 to 1.41 on a particularly smoky day that coincided with elevated levels of CH4 and increased CH4/CO2 ratios. The change to a higher ratio during smoky conditions illustrates the association between changing emissions and −O2/CO2 ratios, possibly due to changing wildfire dynamics.

Received 8 June 2000; accepted 10 April 2001.

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Citation: Lueker, T. J., R. F. Keeling, and M. K. Dubey (2001), The Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide Ratios Observed in Emissions from a Wildfire in Northern California, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(12), 2413–2416.