Emission Factors for Crop Residue and Prescribed Fires in the Eastern US During FIREX-AQ

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Authors

• Katherine R. Travis, NASA Langley Research Center
• James H. Crawford, NASA Langley Research Center
• Amber J. Soja, NASA Langley Research Center
• Emily M. Gargulinski, NASA Langley Research Center
• Richard H. Moore, NASA Langley Research Center
• Elizabeth B. Wiggins, NASA Langley Research Center
• Glenn S. Diskin, NASA Langley Research Center
• Joshua P. DiGangi, NASA Langley Research Center
• John B. Nowak, NASA Langley Research Center
• Hannah Halliday, NASA Langley Research Center
• Robert J. Yokelson, University of Montana
• Jessica L. McCarty, Miami University
• Isobel J. Simpson, University of California, Irvine
• Donald R. Blake, University of California, Irvine
• Simone Meinardi, University of California, Irvine
• Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory
• Eric C. Apel, Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory
• Alan J. Hills, Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory
• Carsten Warneke, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Matthew M. Coggon, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Andrew W. Rollins, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Jessica B. Gilman, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Caroline C. Womack, University of Colorado
• Michael A. Robinson, University of Colorado
• Joseph M. Katich, University of Colorado
• Jeff Peischl, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Georgios I. Gkatzelis, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Ilann Bourgeois, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Pamela S. Rickly, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Aaron Lamplugh, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
• Jack E. Dibb, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
• Jose L. Jimenez, University of Colorado Boulder
• Pedro Campuzano-Jost, University of Colorado Boulder
• Douglas A. Day, University of Colorado Boulder
• Hongyu Guo, University of Colorado Boulder
• Demetrios Pagonis, University of Colorado Boulder
• Paul O. Wennberg, California Institute of Technology
• John D. Crounse, California Institute of Technology
• Lu Xu, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory
• Thomas F. Hanisco, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Glenn M. Wolfe, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Jin Liao, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Jason M. St. Clair, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Benjamin A. Nault, Aerodyne Research, Inc.
• Alan Fried, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Anne E. Perring, Colgate University

Abstract

Agricultural and prescribed burning activities emit large amounts of trace gases and aerosols on regional to global scales. We present a compilation of emission factors (EFs) and emission ratios from the eastern portion of the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign in 2019 in the United States, which sampled burning of crop residues and other prescribed fire fuels. FIREX-AQ provided comprehensive chemical characterization of 53 crop residue and 22 prescribed fires. Crop residues burned at different modified combustion efficiencies (MCE), with corn residue burning at higher MCE than other fuel types. Prescribed fires burned at lower MCE (< 0.90) which is typical, while grasslands burned at lower MCE (0.90) than normally observed due to moist, green, growing season fuels. Most non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) were significantly anticorrelated with MCE except for ethanol and NMVOCs that were measured with less certainty. We identified 23 species where crop residue fires differed by more than 50% from prescribed fires at the same MCE. Crop residue EFs were greater for species related to agricultural chemical use and fuel composition as well as oxygenated NMVOCs possibly due to the presence of metals such as potassium. Prescribed EFs were greater for monoterpenes (5×). FIREX-AQ crop residue average EFs generally agreed with the previous agricultural fire study in the US but had large disagreements with global compilations. FIREX-AQ observations show the importance of regionally-specific and fuel-specific EFs as first steps to reduce uncertainty in modeling the air quality impacts of fire emissions.

Department

Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

9-2-2023

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Publisher

AGU

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039309

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Travis, K. R., J. H. Crawford, A. .J. Soja, E. M. Gargulinski, R. H. Moore, E. B. Wiggins, G. S. Diskin, J. P. DiGangi, J. B. Nowak, H. Halliday, R. J. Yokelson, J. L. McCarty, I. J. Simpson, D. R. Blake, S. Meinardi, R. S. Hornbrook, E. C. Apel, A. J. Hills, C. Warneke, M. M. Coggon, A. W. Rollins, J. B. Gilman, C. C. Womack,  M. A. Robinson, J. M. Katich, J. Peischl, G. I. Gkatzelis, I. Bourgeois, P. S. Rickly,  A. Lamplugh, J. E. Dibb, J. L. Jimenez, P. Campuzano-Jost, D. A. Day, H. Guo, D. Pagonis, P. O. Wennberg, J. D. Crounse, L. Xu, T. F. Hanisco, G. M. Wolfe, J. Liao, J. M. St. Clair, B. A. Nault, A. Fried, and A. E. Perrring, (2023), Emission factors for crop residue and prescribed fires in the Eastern US during FIREX-AQ, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 128, e2023JD039309. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039309

Rights

© 2023 The Authors.

Comments

This is an open access article published by AGU in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres in 2024, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039309