Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Publisher

AGU Publications

Publication Date

5-13-2015

Issue

42

Disciplines

Biochemistry | Chemistry | Life Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Abstract

We couple airborne, ground-based, and satellite observations; conduct regional simulations; and develop and apply an inversion technique to constrain hourly smoke emissions from the Rim Fire, the third largest observed in California, USA. Emissions constrainedwithmultiplatform data show notable nocturnal enhancements (sometimes over a factor of 20), correlate better with daily burned area data, and are a factor of 2–4 higher than a priori estimates, highlighting the need for improved characterization of diurnal profiles and day-to-day variability when modeling extreme fires. Constraining only with satellite data results in smaller enhancements mainly due to missing retrievals near the emissions source, suggesting that top-down emission estimates for these events could be underestimated and a multi-platform approach is required to resolve them. Predictions driven by emissions constrained with multi-platform data present significant variations in downwind air quality and in aerosol feedback on meteorology, emphasizing the need for improved emissions estimates during exceptional events.

Keywords

Hourly smoke emissions from a wildfire are constrained with multiplatform data; Diurnal profiles for modeling extreme fire events need to be improved; Only a multiplatform approach allows to fully resolve emissions for these events

DOI

10.1002/2015GL063737

Rights

©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

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