American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 887956 bytes)

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 111, D24S07, doi:10.1029/2006JD007695, 2006

Ozone production from the 2004 North American boreal fires

G. G. Pfister

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


L. K. Emmons

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


P. G. Hess

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


R. Honrath

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA


J.-F. Lamarque

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


M. Val Martin

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA


R. C. Owen

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA


M. A. Avery

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


E. V. Browell

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


J. S. Holloway

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA


P. Nedelec

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France


R. Purvis

Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement, Cranfield, UK


T. B. Ryerson

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA


G. W. Sachse

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


H. Schlager

German Aerospace Center, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany


Abstract

We examine the ozone production from boreal forest fires based on a case study of wildfires in Alaska and Canada in summer 2004. The model simulations were performed with the chemistry transport model, MOZART-4, and were evaluated by comparison with a comprehensive set of aircraft measurements. In the analysis we use measurements and model simulations of carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) at the PICO-NARE station located in the Azores within the pathway of North American outflow. The modeled mixing ratios were used to test the robustness of the enhancement ratio ΔO3/ΔCO (defined as the excess O3 mixing ratio normalized by the increase in CO) and the feasibility for using this ratio in estimating the O3 production from the wildfires. Modeled and observed enhancement ratios are about 0.25 ppbv/ppbv which is in the range of values found in the literature and results in a global net O3 production of 12.9 ± 2 Tg O3 during summer 2004. This matches the net O3 production calculated in the model for a region extending from Alaska to the east Atlantic (9–11 Tg O3) indicating that observations at PICO-NARE representing photochemically well aged plumes provide a good measure of the O3 production of North American boreal fires. However, net chemical loss of fire-related O3 dominates in regions far downwind from the fires (e.g., Europe and Asia) resulting in a global net O3 production of 6 Tg O3 during the same time period. On average, the fires increased the O3 burden (surface −300 mbar) over Alaska and Canada during summer 2004 by about 7–9% and over Europe by about 2–3%.

Received 23 June 2006; accepted 13 October 2006; published 16 December 2006.

Keywords: boreal fires; ozone; enhancement ratio.

Index Terms: 0322 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Constituent sources and sinks; 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251); 0368 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry.

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 887956 bytes)

Citation: Pfister, G. G., et al. (2006), Ozone production from the 2004 North American boreal fires, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24S07, doi:10.1029/2006JD007695.