Analysis of Fresh and Aged Aerosols Produced by Biomass Combustion

Emissions from biomass combustion are known to influence human health, visibility, the global radiation budget, and cloud properties. Much research has been done looking at the primary emissions of wild and prescribed fires. As a result, primary smoke marker compounds, such as levoglucosan (a combustion product of cellulose), have been identified and used to determine the impact of fires on ambient air quality. However, little is known about the chemical processing occurring within smoke plumes and the resulting production of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). This likely leads to an underestimation of biomass burning impacts on particulate organic carbon (OC), often used in large-scale air quality model simulations. To better understand biomass smoke aging, hi-volume PM2.5 filter samples from two studies are compared here. Data from the Fire Lab at Missoula Experiments (FLAME) represent fresh smoke, sampled at the source of the fire. Aged smoke was collected during the Yosemite Aerosol Characterization Study (YACS), where the sampling site was days downwind from forest fires. Additional samples of aged smoke were collected at Rocky Mountain National Park and the Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Department, which were both affected by transported smoke from wildfires in southern California. Aqueous extracts of these samples have been analyzed using Liquid Chromatography coupled with a Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (LC-TOF-MS) with electrospray ionization, as well as with a Linear Trap Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometr (LTQ-Orbitrap MS). Samples of fresh and aged smoke will be compared to help identify processes occurring during biomass smoke aging and transport. Preliminary results have shown the products of monoterpene oxidation, such as limonene, in all samples. Analysis has also shown an abundance of nitrogen-containing compounds in samples affected by biomass smoke, as well as an increase in oxidation with aged smoke samples.