Emission Fluxes from Biomass Burning using the CU airborne SOF Instrument

Column measurements of trace gas absorption along the direct solar beam present a powerful yet underused approach to quantify emission fluxes from area sources such as biomass burning. The University of Colorado Solar Occultation Flux (CU SOF) instrument (Kille et al., 2017, AMT, doi:10.5194/amt-10-373-2017) has been adapted for use from research aircraft to study biomass burning emissions from wildfires. This is motivated by events such as the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, which killed over 40 people, and caused $9 billion in economic damage. The CU airborne SOF instrument was deployed to demonstrate the technique in preparation for the Biomass Burning emissions of trace gases and aerosols using SOF on the Wyoming King Air (BB-FLUX) project (PI: Rainer Volkamer) that took place during the July-September 2018 wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest. CU airborne SOF measures infrared active gases, such as NH₃, hydrocarbons, and CO.We will discuss our initial applications to study emissions from biomass burning plumes that travel decoupled from the ground. This presentation explores the use of these first quantitative emissions estimates of CO and NH₃ from the Santa Rosa, CA wildfires to assess wildfire impacts on particulate matter pollution and ozone formation.