Impact of peri-urban forest fires on air quality and aerosol optical and chemical properties: The case of the August 2021 wildfires in Athens, Greece

Wildfires occurring near urban areas are known to have exceedingly detrimental impacts on the environment, air quality, economy and human health. In this framework, this study examines the effects of peri-urban forest fires on atmospheric chemical composition, and aerosol physical-optical properties in Athens, Greece, during August 2021. Satellite imagery and air mass trajectories showed advection of intense smoke plumes over Athens from three forest fires persisting for 10 days in the greater Athens area and in Central Greece (Euboea). During August 1-20, 2021, daily PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 8.9 to 78.7 μg m-3, and were associated with high OC levels (2.3-27.8 μg m-3), while BC and BCbb concentrations on smoke-impacted days were 2.6 μg m-3 and 1.0 μg m-3, respectively (2-3 times higher than August mean levels). During the peak of biomass burning (BB) smoke transport over Athens, daily-average scattering and absorption coefficients at short wavelengths maximized at 313 Mm-1 and 171 Mm-1, respectively. There was also a large impact of ambient BrC (brown carbon) absorption (60 Mm-1), while the OC/EC ratio exhibited characteristically low values (3-4), linked to flaming combustion (modified combustion efficiency of 0.97-0.99). The absorption Ångström exponent (1.38) and single scattering albedo (0.74) indicated highly absorbing BB aerosol, deviating from the normal summer patterns. BB-tracers like nssK+ displayed strong correlations with OC, EC and BC concentrations, as well as with scattering and absorption coefficients. However, forest fires drastically modified the levels of additional chemical species, with enhancements observed for Ca2+, NO3-, Cl-, and for organic aerosol (OA) components such as BBOA and less-oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA). Since under climate change conditions, the Mediterranean is anticipated to experience a dramatic rise in the frequency and intensity of wildfires, the results highlight the necessity for prevention and mitigation policies to safeguard urban air quality.

Impact of various air mass types on cloud condensation nuclei concentrations along coastal southeast Florida

Coastal southeast Florida experiences a wide range of aerosol conditions, including African dust, biomass burning (BB) aerosols, as well as sea salt and other locally-emitted aerosols. These aerosols are important sources of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which play an essential role in governing cloud radiative properties. As marine environments dominate the surface of Earth, CCN characteristics in coastal southeast Florida have broad implications for other regions with the added feature that this site is perturbed by both natural and anthropogenic emissions. This study investigates the influence of different air mass types on CCN concentrations at 0.2% (CCN_0.2%) and 1.0% (CCN_1.0%) supersaturation (SS) based on ground site measurements during selected months in 2013, 2017, and 2018. Average CCN_0.2% and CCN_1.0% concentrations were 373 ± 200 cm^-3 and 584 ± 323 cm^-3, respectively, for four selected days with minimal presence of African dust and BB (i.e., background days). CCN concentrations were not elevated on the four days with highest influence of African dust (289 ± 104 cm^-3 [0.2% SS] and 591 ± 302 cm^-3 [1.0% SS]), consistent with high dust mass concentrations comprised of coarse particles that are few in number. In contrast, CCN concentrations were substantially enhanced on the five days with the greatest impact from BB (1408 ± 976 cm^-3 [0.2% SS] and 3337 ± 1252 cm^-3 [1.0% SS]). Ratios of CCN_0.2%:CCN_1.0% were used to compare the hygroscopicity of the aerosols associated with African dust, BB, and background days. Average ratios were similar for days impacted by African dust and BB (0.54 ± 0.17 and 0.55 ± 0.17, respectively). A 29% higher average ratio was observed on background days (0.71 ± 0.14), owing in part to a strong presence of sea salt and reduced presence of more hydrophobic species such as those of a carbonaceous or mineral-dust nature. Finally, periods of heavy rainfall were shown to effectively decrease both CCN_0.2% and CCN_1.0% concentrations. However, the rate varied at which such concentrations increased after the rain. This work contributes knowledge on the nucleating ability of African dust and BB in a marine environment after varying periods of atmospheric transport (days to weeks). The results can be used to understand the hygroscopicity of these air mass types, predict how they may influence cloud properties, and provide a valuable model constraint when predicting CCN concentrations in comparable situations.

Development and characterization of a high-efficiency, aircraft-based axial cyclone cloud water collector

A new aircraft-mounted probe for collecting samples of cloud water has been designed, fabricated, and extensively tested. Following previous designs, the probe uses inertial separation to remove cloud droplets from the airstream, which are subsequently collected and stored for offline analysis. We report details of the design, operation, and modelled and measured probe performance. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to understand the flow patterns around the complex interior geometrical features that were optimized to ensure efficient droplet capture. CFD simulations coupled with particle tracking and multiphase surface transport modelling provide detailed estimates of the probe performance across the entire range of flight operating conditions and sampling scenarios. Physical operation of the probe was tested on a Lockheed C-130 Hercules (fuselage mounted) and de Havilland Twin Otter (wing pylon mounted) during three airborne field campaigns. During C-130 flights on the final field campaign, the probe reflected the most developed version of the design and a median cloud water collection rate of 4.5 mL min^-1 was achieved. This allowed samples to be collected over 1-2 min under optimal cloud conditions. Flights on the Twin Otter featured an inter-comparison of the new probe with a slotted-rod collector, which has an extensive airborne campaign legacy. Comparison of trace species concentrations showed good agreement between collection techniques, with absolute concentrations of most major ions agreeing within 30 %, over a range of several orders of magnitude.

Frequency and Character of Extreme Aerosol Events in the Southwestern United States: A Case Study Analysis in Arizona

This study uses more than a decade's worth of data across Arizona to characterize the spatiotemporal distribution, frequency, and source of extreme aerosol events, defined as when the concentration of a species on a particular day exceeds that of the average plus two standard deviations for that given month. Depending on which of eight sites studied, between 5% and 7% of the total days exhibited an extreme aerosol event due to either extreme levels of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and/or fine soil. Grand Canyon exhibited the most extreme event days (120, i.e., 7% of its total days). Fine soil is the pollutant type that most frequently impacted multiple sites at once at an extreme level. PM₁₀, PM_2.5, fine soil, non-Asian dust, and Elemental Carbon extreme events occurred most frequently in August. Nearly all Asian dust extreme events occurred between March and June. Extreme Elemental Carbon events have decreased as a function of time with statistical significance, while other pollutant categories did not show any significant change. Extreme events were most frequent for the various pollutant categories on either Wednesday or Thursday, but there was no statistically significant difference in the number of events on any particular day or on weekends versus weekdays.

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the functional content of organic aerosols: a review

The knowledge deficit of organic aerosol (OA) composition has been identified as the most important factor limiting our understanding of the atmospheric fate and implications of aerosol. The efforts to chemically characterize OA include the increasing utilization of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Since 1998, the functional composition of different types, sizes and fractions of OA has been studied with one-dimensional, two-dimensional and solid state proton and carbon-13 NMR. This led to the use of functional group ratios to reconcile the most important sources of OA, including secondary organic aerosol and initial source apportionment using positive matrix factorization. Future research efforts may be directed towards the optimization of experimental parameters, detailed NMR experiments and analysis by pattern recognition methods to identify the chemical components, determination of the NMR fingerprints of OA sources and solid state NMR to study the content of OA as a whole.

Soil humic-like organic compounds in prescribed fire emissions using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Here we present the chemical characterization of the water-soluble organic carbon fraction of atmospheric aerosol collected during a prescribed fire burn in relation to soil organic matter and biomass combustion. Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we observed that humic-like substances in fire emissions have been associated with soil organic matter rather than biomass. Using a chemical mass balance model, we estimated that soil organic matter may contribute up to 41% of organic hydrogen and up to 27% of water-soluble organic carbon in fire emissions. Dust particles, when mixed with fresh combustion emissions, substantially enhances the atmospheric oxidative capacity, particle formation and microphysical properties of clouds influencing the climatic responses of atmospheric aeroso. Owing to the large emissions of combustion aerosol during fires, the release of dust particles from soil surfaces that are subjected to intense heating and shear stress has, so far, been lacking.